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Qisas (Arabic: قصاص) is an Islamic term meaning "Equal Retaliation," and follows the principle of an eye for an eye, or lex talionis, first set forth by Hammurabi. In the case of murder, it means the right of the heirs of a murder victim to demand execution of the murderer.
The Qur'an also allows aggrieved parties to forfeit the right of qisas as an act of charity or in atonement for sins.[3]
Qisas is enforced today by states which follow Shari'a, including Saudi Arabia, Iran[4] and Pakistan.[5]
The issue of qisas gained attention in the Western media in 2009 when Ameneh Bahrami, an Iranian woman blinded in an acid attack, demanded her attacker Majiv Movahedi be blinded as well[6]. In 2011, Bahrami made a last-minute retraction of this demand, requesting on the day the sentence was to be carried out that her attacker be pardoned[7].
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