The Punishment in Qajar Era (1210-1264 AH): The Case of Making Blind

The history of making blind as a punishment backed to pre-Islamic Iran. The punishment was prevalent in Iran's criminal justice system until the mid-Qajar period. But it was gradually abandoned. This study aims to investigate the punishment of making blind during the Qajar era and how it was removed from Iran's criminal justice system. The results of this study indicate that the punishment was used in Iran until the early days of Mohammad Shah's reign and it was mainly against the perpetrators of security such as the rebel princes and Khans. It seems that the removal of this punishment was due to the consolidation of Qajar government as well as the impact of Western law.