Iranian Doctors Refuse to Carry Out Retribution Sentence for Acid Attack

According to a judge in an acid attack case in Iran, no doctor has accepted to carry out the retribution sentence on the convicted individual through surgery on the eyes and ears, and the delay in executing the sentence is due to the doctors' refusal to accept this matter. Judge Dashtban, head of the execution unit of the Tehran Prosecutor's Office, stated on Wednesday, January 21, that the retribution against the convicted individual in the case of Davood Roshanaei would be carried out through surgery, and they are waiting for a response from the forensic medicine department. He said, 'We cannot tell the forensic medicine or a doctor that they 'must' do this.' The acid attack on Davood Roshanaei dates back to about nine years ago in November 2005. Mr. Roshanaei had previously told ISNA news agency that 'when he was heading to a park in Majidieh, he noticed that a person named 'Hamid - S' was following him, and when he asked the reason for his actions, the other party splashed acid on him.' Mr. Roshanaei mentioned his 'financial inability for treatment' and stated that his request for assistance from government agencies had not been fruitful, and he had asked judicial authorities to execute the sentence so that he could cover his treatment costs with the received blood money. In this regard, Judge Dashtban mentioned the latest status of the execution of the sentence for the accused in Davood Roshanaei's case, saying, 'Once the conditions for executing the sentence were prepared, but the plaintiff set conditions for the convict a day before the execution and announced that he would waive the retribution if these conditions were met.' According to this prosecutor, after a two-month deadline, the convict's family announced that they could not fulfill Davood's conditions, and therefore he reiterated his request for the execution of the sentence. Judge Dashtban concluded this conversation by stating, 'We have corresponded with forensic medicine, and in a meeting that the head of the criminal prosecutor's office had with forensic medicine, it was decided that forensic medicine would notify us of the final news after the prerequisites for executing the sentence and introducing a doctor are prepared.' On the other hand, the head of Branch 71 of the Tehran Criminal Court emphasized the execution of the issued sentence regarding Davood Roshanaei's case, stating that 'if a doctor is unwilling to execute the sentence, this matter should be reported to the head of the judiciary.' Judge Noorollah Aziz Mohammadi, in an interview with Tasnim news agency, stated that this issue pertains to the prosecutor's office and that the court has no responsibility for execution after issuing a verdict. He said, 'The Supreme Court has asked doctors, and they said that besides acid attacks, we can also perform other procedures and cut several nerves; however, there are committed doctors who accept to carry out the sentence.' However, in this regard, the director of forensic medicine in Tehran stated that forensic medicine has no duty or authority to execute the retribution sentence for acid attacks. Bashir Nazparvar, in an interview with Tasnim news agency in response to the statements of the head of the execution unit of the prosecutor's office, stated, 'We cannot pressure forensic medicine or a doctor, and if it is meant that forensic medicine should carry out the retribution, we do not accept it as we are not the executors of this matter.' The director of forensic medicine in Tehran explained about the executor of this sentence, 'Naturally, forensic medicine is not the executor, and it is the relevant judicial system that decides which doctor will carry out the execution, and forensic medicine has no involvement in this regard.'