BAHAWALPUR, Pakistan, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A court in Pakistan has sentenced a man to be blinded by acid after he carried out a similar attack on his fiancee, the BBC reported Saturday.
The court sentenced Mohammad Sajid under the Islamic Qisas law that matches crime and punishment, though it allows for mercy if the victim's family is willing.
Sajid blinded and mutilated his fiancee after her parents called off the couple's engagement.
Rights groups have criticized the sentence, and observers say it is unlikely to be carried out.
The judge passed the sentence in an anti-terrorism court using a law enforced in 1979 during the rule of the dictator General Zia ul-Haq.
Acid attacks on women are not unusual in Pakistan, particularly in feudal and tribal areas.
Rights activists say more than 70 incidents have been reported in Punjab this year.
