PARIS: Iran on Wednesday hanged a woman convicted of murdering her husband, whom she married while still a child, defying an international campaign for clemency, rights groups said.

Samira Sabzian, who had been in prison for the past decade, was executed at dawn in Ghezel Hesar prison in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said.

Her execution comes as concern grows over the numbers of people this year executed by Iran, where hundreds of people have been hanged mainly on drugs and murder charges, including more than a dozen women. IHR said Sabzian was a “child bride” who had married her husband at the age of 15 and had been a victim of domestic violence, according to relatives.

The Hengaw rights group also confirmed the execution of the woman, now believed to be in her late 20s or early 30s, saying that she was originally from the city of Khorramabad in the western Lorestan province.

Amnesty International said it was “horrified” by the reports of the “chilling execution”, saying the mother of two was “subjected to a forced and early marriage as a child”.

Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2023