A Pakistani man has been sentenced to be blinded by acid after a judge found him guilty of doing the same to his former fianceé.
Mohammad Sajid carried out an acid attack on Rabia Bibi in June after her parents broke off their engagement and gave her hand to someone else.
The judge in the anti-terrorism court in Bahawalpur, a town in central Punjab province, ruled on Friday that the convict be given a matching punishment under the Islamic law of "Qisas".
The law, enforced in Pakistan during the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq in 1979, says a culprit should be handed a similar punishment to the crime committed unless pardoned by the victim or the victim's family.
Observers say the sentence is unlikely to be carried out, however, because of public outcry and as President Pervez Musharraf is determined to modernise the country.
Sajid confessed before the court that he had thrown the acid in the face of Bibi in revenge for her family not keeping its promise, the court official said. The attack blinded and badly mutilated the girl, he added.
Human rights activists criticised the ruling, which can be appealed.