Tehran: Iran has hanged a woman convicted of murdering a man she said was trying to rape her.
The official IRNA news agency says Reyhaneh Jabbari was hanged at dawn Saturday for premeditated murder. It quoted the court ruling as rejecting the claim of attempted rape and saying all evidence proved that Jabbari had plotted to kill Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a former intelligence agent.
The court ruling says Jabbari, 27, stabbed Sarbandi in the back in 2007 after purchasing a knife two days earlier.
The execution was carried out after Sarbandi's family refused to pardon Jabbari or accept blood money.
Amnesty International and other human rights groups had called on Iran's judiciary to halt the execution.
