Iranian Man on Hunger Strike Against Planned Eye-for-an-Eye Gouging

An Iranian man set to be forcibly blinded in his left eye has been on hunger strike for six days in protest of his “retribution-in-kind” punishment.

Mousavian, a 31-year-old construction worker, is alleged to have thrown a stone during a protest in December 2017, resulting in the blinding of a police colonel’s left eye. 

The defendant has claimed his innocence, saying he did not throw the stone.

An informed source told IranWire that the police colonel demanded 14 billion tomans ($265,000) from the convict, but the Mousavian family has been unable to gather this sum.

As a result, the policeman requested retribution for his eye, and Mousavian is soon expected to be blinded in his left eye in Shahr-e Kord’s prison, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group

Human rights groups have urged the Iranian authorities to immediately stop punishing convicts by deliberately blinding them, calling such punishment an unspeakably cruel and shocking act.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director  previously said: "Blinding as a form of punishment is a medieval practice that the Islamic Republic uses to intimidate society. The United Nations should not tolerate blinding as a form of punishment by any of its member states in 2024. We want the international community and all countries with diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic to convey this message that implementing such a punishment will have serious consequences for the Islamic Republic."