Saudi woman awarded right to retribution from husband after he gouged out her eye

Duai: A Saudi Court has upheld a woman’s right to qisas (retribution) from her husband who gouged out her eye following a family dispute after she refused reconciliation and compensation, local media reported.

The woman refused a previous ruling by the court that ordered the husband to pay 400,000 riyals in compensation and insisted on her right to equal retaliation “eye for an eye”.

The incident too place when the husband asked his wife to come out of their house following a heated dispute that erupted between them in front of their children. “He suggested going outside in their car to avoid their children hearing and seeing them fighting, claiming this was for their mental health." The heated dispute turned violent when both were inside their car.

The defendant, who was wearing a ring, punched his wife in the face, gouging out her eye, lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Shabrami, the victim’s lawyer said.

“My client refused reconciliation and 400,000 in compensation, insisting on her right for qisas, the equal retaliation,” Al Shabrami said.

Qisas is an Islamic term interpreted to “retaliation in kind” or “eye for an eye”, or retributive justice. In traditional Islamic law (sharia), the doctrine of qisas provides for a punishment analogous to the crime. Qisas is available to the victim or victim’s heirs against a convicted perpetrator of murder or intentional bodily injury.

Those who are entitled to qisas have the option of receiving monetary compensation or granting pardon to the perpetrator instead.

Qisas is one of several forms of punishment in traditional Islamic criminal jurisprudence.