Eye for an eye for Iran man who blinded toddler

Iran blinded a man on Tuesday after convicting him of throwing chemicals in face of a four-year-old girl and depriving her of sight, a judicial official was quoted as saying.

It was the second time this year that Iran had carried out the strict eye-for-eye punishment that can be imposed for such crimes in the Islamic republic, the head of criminal affairs for the Tehran prosecutor's office, Mohammad Shahriari, said.

"In 2009, this man threw lime into the face of a little girl of four years in the Sanandaj region, leaving her blind," the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

"Today, the law of retribution was applied in my presence and that of experts," he said, without giving details.

The law of retribution is a central part of Islam's sharia code but has been condemned by international human rights groups.

Victims can choose to spare their attackers the punishment often in exchange for blood money.

In 2011, young Iranian woman Ameneh Bahrami, one of a number who have been blinded and disfigured in acid attacks in recent years, used the right, saying she did not want her attacker to endure what she had.