Two men have appeared in court after the suspected lover of a married Muslim woman had acid thrown in his face and was stabbed twice in the back in a possible “honour attack”.

The woman was warned that her own “wellbeing may be in danger”, a source at Scotland Yard told The Times.

Detectives have been told that the man and woman were not in a sexual relationship but were just friends. However, their relationship is said to have upset her family.

The 24-year-old Asian victim, believed to be from Denmark, is in a critical but stable condition in a specialist burns unit in Essex. He has lost part of his tongue, been left blind in one eye and has 50 per cent burns and fractures to his face after being attacked in Leytonstone, East London, on July 2.

The two accused, aged 19 and 25, come from East London and are charged with attempted murder. Neither can be named for legal reasons. They were remanded in custody after appearing at Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court yesterday. They will appear at the Old Bailey on September 30.

Both men are said to be related to the woman. One is understood to be her brother.

A police source said that the woman had not been moved into a safe house but that police were in daily contact with her.

The man was allegedly attacked at 2am by a gang wearing masks and gloves. Five other men have been arrested and bailed pending further inquiries by police. A 16-year-old youth was rearrested last night and is being held at an East London police station.

At the time of the attack, a police source said: “It looks like this gang set out deliberately to target this man. They were dressed in masks and gloves so none of the acid would get on them.”

Police searched the house in Walthamstow of one of the defendants on Monday. A neighbour said the family were “an ordinary Muslim family”. She added: “The police were here from dawn until I went to bed. The family were there all day, but they were not allowed back into the house. They are nice neighbours, very friendly.”

A few roads away neighbours of the other defendant said that police arrived on Tuesday and sealed off a shed at the bottom of the garden with police tape.

Nighat Darr, a project co-ordinator for the Kiran Project, a refuge for Asian women fleeing forced marriages and domestic violence based in Leyton, said that the Forced Marriage Act had been effective in dealing with so-called “honour attacks”. She added: “But we do come across some cases involving horrendous violence. We’ve women who’ve had their nails ripped out by pliers. Another woman was fed dog food. It can be triggered by anything from not willing to be forced into marriage to being caught looking out of a window.”

The organisation was founded in 1990 and helps about 25-30 women, mostly with children, every year. Their clients are mostly in their twenties and thirties.

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