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An Iranian woman blinded and disfigured with acid has spared her attacker from being blinded in the same way himself.
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Ameneh Bahrami lost her sight in 2004 when acid was thrown in her face after she rejected Majid Movahedi's marriage proposal.
Using the principle of 'retribution' permitted under Iran's Islamic law he was sentenced to prison and to be blinded in one eye himself.
But as Ms Bahrami stood in the hospital to watch the doctor put the drops of acid in Movahedi's eye, she asked to have him spared.
"It is best to pardon when you are in a position of power," she said, explaining that she did not want revenge.
The sobbing man said his victim was "very generous".
"I couldn't imagine being blinded by acid," Movahedi said, as he wept against a wall.
In Iran it is a legal right for victims to ask for a strict enforcement of Islamic law, under which an attempt is made to reach a settlement with victims or their families.
If no agreement is reached, then "qisas," or eye-for-an-eye retribution, is enforced.
Ms Bahrami with pictures of herself before the attack
In the trial for this case, the court ruling allowed the woman to have a doctor pour a few drops of the corrosive chemical in one of Movahedi's eyes as retribution.
A few months after the November 2008 ruling, Ms Bahrami told a radio station in Spain, where she travelled for treatment of her wounds, that she was happy with the sentence.
"I am not doing this out of revenge, but rather so that the suffering I went through is not repeated," she said in the interview.
After undergoing treatment in Barcelona, Ms Bahrami initially recovered 40% of the vision in one eye, but she later lost all her sight.
Amnesty International has criticised the Iranian law that allows victims of such attacks to deliberately blind the assailants under medical supervision.
In a statement the rights group said the practice was a cruel punishment that amounts to torture.
To view this content you need Flash and Javascript enabled in your browser.
Please download Flash from the Adobe download website.
Ameneh Bahrami lost her sight in 2004 when acid was thrown in her face after she rejected Majid Movahedi's marriage proposal.
Using the principle of 'retribution' permitted under Iran's Islamic law he was sentenced to prison and to be blinded in one eye himself.
But as Ms Bahrami stood in the hospital to watch the doctor put the drops of acid in Movahedi's eye, she asked to have him spared.
"It is best to pardon when you are in a position of power," she said, explaining that she did not want revenge.
The sobbing man said his victim was "very generous".
"I couldn't imagine being blinded by acid," Movahedi said, as he wept against a wall.
In Iran it is a legal right for victims to ask for a strict enforcement of Islamic law, under which an attempt is made to reach a settlement with victims or their families.
If no agreement is reached, then "qisas," or eye-for-an-eye retribution, is enforced.
Ms Bahrami with pictures of herself before the attack
In the trial for this case, the court ruling allowed the woman to have a doctor pour a few drops of the corrosive chemical in one of Movahedi's eyes as retribution.
A few months after the November 2008 ruling, Ms Bahrami told a radio station in Spain, where she travelled for treatment of her wounds, that she was happy with the sentence.
"I am not doing this out of revenge, but rather so that the suffering I went through is not repeated," she said in the interview.
After undergoing treatment in Barcelona, Ms Bahrami initially recovered 40% of the vision in one eye, but she later lost all her sight.
Amnesty International has criticised the Iranian law that allows victims of such attacks to deliberately blind the assailants under medical supervision.
In a statement the rights group said the practice was a cruel punishment that amounts to torture.
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