Iran blinds man as punishment for blinding toddler

Iran has blinded a man as punishment after convicting him of throwing chemicals in the face of a four-year-old girl that left her blinded, a judicial official said.

This is the second time this year that Tehran has implemented the strict eye-for-eye punishment that can be enforced for such crimes in the country, 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, a news agency run by Iranian university students, quoted Shahriari as saying on Tuesday .

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

Under the law of retribution victims can decide whether or not they want to spare their attackers the punishment, often in exchange for blood money.

It has been condemned by international human rights groups.

In 2011, young Iranian woman Ameneh Bahrami, one of many victims who have been blinded and disfigured in chemical attacks in recent years, chose to spare her attacker the punishment, saying she did not want him to go through what she had experienced.