Acid attack victim Ameneh Bahrami: 'I'm living my life'

Ameneh Bahrami holding a photograph of herself before she was blinded by a rejected suitor. Photo: AFP

One autumn afternoon 10 years ago, Ameneh Bahrami was leaving work in Teheran when she was confronted by a young man she had repeatedly refused to marry. The stubborn suitor, unable to cope with rejection, had pestered and threatened her many times before that day, but she had no idea what he was about to do.

“He had a red container in his hands,” she recalled. “He looked into my eyes and threw acid in my face.” Those few seconds left Bahrami, 26, blind and disfigured.