An Iranian woman blinded with acid by her suitor for turning down his marriage proposal has spared him at the last minute from being blinded as punishment for his crime, Iranian media has reported.

Ameneh Bahrami lost her sight in 2004 when Majid Mohavedi poured acid onto her face after she spurned his offers of marriage.

In 2008, a court sentenced Mohavedi to be blinded in both eyes for taking away Bahrami's sight, using the principle of retribution permitted under Iran's Islamic law.

"I have been trying for seven years to get the qisas [retribution] sentence but today I decided to pardon him," Ameneh was quoted as saying by Iran's ISNA news agency.

Ameneh said the international interest in the case was one reason for her deciding to drop her demand that the sentence of retribution be carried out.

"It seemed like the entire world was waiting to see what we did," she said.

Rights group Amnesty International urged Iran not to inflict the punishment.

The concept of qisas also applies to other crimes in Iran, such as murder. A victim's family can demand the death of a convicted murderer or ask that the sentence be commuted in return for financial compensation from the criminal.

Tehran prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi praised Ameneh's move as a "courageous act" and said the judiciary had until then been determined to carry out the sentence.

"Everything was ready for carrying out the qisas on Majid's eyes but Ameneh pardoned him on the brink of the execution of the sentence," Dolatabadi told ISNA.

"Ameneh is seeking [financial] compensation for other injuries inflicted on her," he added, without giving details.

A lawyer for Mohavedi had previously said his family would have great difficulty in finding the amount of money sought by Ameneh because their only asset was a house in Tehran.

Bahrami, whose face is still disfigured after several operations, said she had spared Mohavedi from qisas but still wanted about R1.4-million from him in compensation. - Reuters