Eye for an eye: Saudi wife refuses cash compensation

Court upholds retribution against husband

ASaudi Court has upheld a woman’s right to qisas (retribution) against her husband who gouged out her eye after a heated argument.

The woman rejected compensation of 400,000 riyals, which the court ordered the husband to pay her in a previous ruling and insisted on her right to demand retribution of an “eye for an eye”.

The incident happened when the husband asked his wife to get out of their house following a heated argument that erupted between them in front of their children.

He then suggested that they continue their argument inside their car so that the children do not see fighting. However, the argument turned violent.

The man, who was wearing a ring, punched his wife in the face, gouging out her eye, her lawyer Abdul Hamid Al Shabrami said. “My client insisted on her right to qisas, or equal retaliation.”

What is qisas?

Qisas is an Islamic term interpreted as ‘retaliation in kind’, or retributive justice. In Sharia, the doctrine of qisas provides for a punishment analogous to the crime. It is available to the victim, or a victim’s heirs, against a convicted perpetrator of murder or intentional bodily injury.