"Judiciary system says will not carry out eye-for-eye verdict"

IranMania:

Iran's judiciary on Tuesday rejected reports that a young man convicted of blinding a colleague is to have his eyes gouged out, asserting the Islamic republic would not carry out such a punishment, AFP reported. READ MORE

"We still have to wait for the final sentence and this trial is in its preliminary stages," Iran's judicial spokesman Jamal Karimi-Rad told reporters.

He was responding to Iranian press reports that a young Tehran labourer -- identified only as Vahid -- has been convicted of deliberately blinding another youth, Gholam-Hossein, by pouring battery acid on his face.

The reports said Vahid was just 16 when the crime was committed in 1993, and said a judge had decided to apply the eye-for-an-eye law literally by ordering Vahid's eyeballs to be surgically removed.

Vahid had reportedly maintained the attack was not intentional.

But Karimi-Rad said that such as sentence "would be difficult to carry out due to the fact that it could not be very equal to the crime committed", and said the judge was more likely to demand he pay compensation to the victim.

The spokesman also asserted it was no longer Iran's policy to execute convicted criminals who committed their offences while under the age of 18, adding that the judiciary was also putting forward legislation to establish a special minors court.

"We will be witnessing fundamental developments in cases related to those under 18," he said.

Iran is under strong international pressure, particularly from the European Union, to stop the execution of minors.

Human rights organisation Amnesty International reported at least 159 people including three minors were executed in Iran in 2004. It said one minor was also sent to the gallows this year.

The judiciary announced in October 2004 that it would raise the age for executions and floggings to over 18.