Ameneh Bahrami has been in the news since she lost her eyesight when Majid Mohavedi, her aggravated lover, poured acid on her face in 2004.

Bahrami, an Iranian woman, was put through the horrendous suffering by her suitor just because she refused his offer to marry him. She fought for seven years to get her justice. But when the time finally arrived, she spared him at the last minute from being blinded too as punishment for his crime, Iranian media reported on Sunday.

In 2008, Mohavedi was sentenced to be blinded in both eyes for taking away Bahrami's sight, using the principle of retribution permitted under Iran's Islamic law.

"I have been trying for seven years to get the qisas (retribution) sentence, but today I decided to pardon him," Ameneh was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

According to Ameneh, another reason for her to spare the attacker was the international interest in the case.

"It seemed like the entire world was waiting to see what we did," she said, according to a Reuters report.

Rights group Amnesty International urged Iran not to inflict the punishment.

Ameneh was earlier denied justice by the Iranian justice system because a woman is not equal to a man in that country. She is only worth half a man.

Bahrami had asked the Iranian court for retribution, to sentence her attacker to be blinded by acid in both eyes. The court acquiesced - but only to blinding one eye, because of the assumption that a woman is only worth half as much as a man.

In an interview to Spanish newspaper ABC in May last, she said: "The person who did this deserves to go through the same suffering. Only this way will he understand my pain ... my intention is to ask for the application of the law not just for revenge but also so that no other woman will have to go through this. It is to set an example."

Ameneh Bahrami was once very beautiful. Now, even after 17 surgeries, she is still completely blind and disfigured with rivulets of skin running down her cheeks. She has spared Majid from qisas but still seeks some 150,000 Euros in financial compensation.

"Everything was ready for carrying out the qisas on Majid's eyes, but Ameneh pardoned him on the brink of the execution of the sentence," Dolatabadi told ISNA.

A lawyer for Mohavedi had previously said his family would have great difficulty in finding the amount of money sought by Ameneh as their only asset was a house in Tehran.

"I will not forgo the compensation...which I need for my medical treatment," she said.

Mohavedi has completed seven years of a prison sentence and cannot be released unless compensation is paid, said the Reuters report.

Court Lawyer