I'm afraid I cannot see why such a penalty would be unjust or excessive, if the blinding of the other person was indeed intentional. Obviously I don't trust the Saudi courts to make such a decision.
It is little known that the Bible's "eye for an eye" punishment was a reduction of penalties from previous codes where the punishment was often more severe than the damage inflicted by the crime. An example of this was Draco's law code in Athens, in which the penalty for almost all crimes was death.
Saudi court orders 'gouging' of Indian's eye
KOLLAM: A youth from the state of Kerala is facing an "eye-for-eye" punishment in Saudi Arabia after a court found him guilty of blinding an Arab during an altercation two years ago.
The helpless family members of the youth are in tears and prayers hoping that their kin would return unhurt.
Puthan Veettil Naushad, who worked as an assistant in a shop attached to a petrol station near Dammam in Saudi Arabia, was the sole bread-winner of the family comprising his parents, wife and two children at Anchal near here.
His life took a tragic turn two years ago when a Saudi national came and purchased a battery charger from the shop. After a while, the customer returned complaining that the product he bought was faulty and allegedly roughed up Naushad. The Saudi national's left eye was damaged when Naushad reacted in self-defence.
The incident landed Naushad in court, which imprisoned him and ordered that his right eye be scooped out and given to the Saudi national as replacement for his damaged eye.
However, according to the family members, the court of appeal has directed the Saudi national to consider whether Naushad could be pardoned. As per Shariat , the offender can escape punishment if the affected person pardoned him.
As a ray of hope for the grieving family, Naushad rang up his wife Shuhaila from Saudi on Monday to say that he hoped the man who took him to court would show mercy.
In practice, "ayin tachat ayin, shen tachat shen" is interpreted in Jewish law to be a metaphor for "the amount of the lawsuit shall not exceed the damages incurred by the plaintiff." It occurs in a section of the Law that deals with civil damages, not criminal penalties. Think of it as Biblical tort reform.