All in Favor Say "Eye"

An Iranian woman, blinded by a jilted stalker who threw acid in her face, has persuaded a court to sentence him to be blinded with acid himself under Islamic law demanding an eye for an eye. A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that the perpetrator should be blinded with acid and forced to pay compensation for the injuries to victim's face, hands and body caused by the acid.

The victim, however, only sought to have him blinded.

Of course, only blind him and take his eyes, because I cannot behave the way he did and ask for acid to be thrown in his face. Because that would be [a] savage, barbaric act. Only take away his sight so that his eyes will become like mine. I am not saying this from a selfish motive. This is what society demands.

Under the Iranian theocracy, eye-gouging is a legitimate judicial punishment.

For those who would have the United States become a Christian theocracy, I direct your attention to Exodus 21:23-25:

If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

That, of course, would be the ultimate source of both Islamic and Judeo-Christian judicial law.

The Hammarabi Code incorporated the concept into secular law:

If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.

This legal concept of lex talionis has been given a wider interpretation in the laws of most secular governments and we are spared actual eye gougings as counter punishment.

Even then, not all passengers on Spaceship Earth are proponents of lex talionis in any form. Indeed, as Mahatma Gandhi remarked:

An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.