This is Ameneh Bahrami. She was attacked with acid after rejecting a marriage proposal from a classmate.

You never know how brutal and Barbaric Islam is unless you are a Muslim woman.

Ameneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman, became a symbol of resilience after a horrific acid attack in 2004 in Tehran. The attack was perpetrated by Majid Movahedi, a former classmate, who threw acid in her face after she rejected his marriage proposal. This act of violence left Bahrami blind, disfigured, and requiring over a dozen reconstructive surgeries in Spain. The incident gained international attention, highlighting the severe sex-based violence faced by women in Iran, often linked to societal pressures and conservative interpretations of Islamic norms that punish women for asserting autonomy.

The legal and cultural context in Iran further complicated Bahrami’s pursuit of justice. Under Iran’s Islamic penal code, victims of such crimes can seek “qisas” (retribution in kind), and Bahrami initially demanded that Movahedi be blinded with acid, a right upheld by Iranian law. However, in 2011, she forgave him at the last moment, influenced by personal, legal, and societal pressures, including a pardon reportedly from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This case underscores the broader issue of acid attacks in Iran, such as the 2014 Isfahan incidents, where women were targeted for not adhering to strict dress codes, often tied to vigilante enforcement of conservative Islamic values.

The story also reflects systemic sex-based violence in Iran, where women face physical, legal, and social oppression. Acid attacks, though not explicitly endorsed by Islamic texts, are frequently associated with patriarchal interpretations of Islamic law and culture that devalue women’s autonomy. Bahrami’s experience, alongside other cases, sparked protests and legal reforms, like the 2019 law increasing penalties for acid attacks, yet the root causes—misogyny and cultural norms—persist, perpetuating such brutality against women.