Iran hangs men and a woman in latest executions

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Four men and one woman have been hanged in a Tehran jail for murder, with two others given a reprieve, a newspaper reported on Thursday, the latest in a series of hangings that have drawn criticism from rights groups.

The five were hanged on Wednesday in Tehran's Evin prison, the state newspaper Iran reported.

It said one of those executed had killed a five-year-old boy while robbing his home. The woman was executed for killing her husband after discovering he wanted to marry another woman.

Two others due to be executed were reprieved. One has a stay of execution after killing a woman he was to marry and her lover. He has two months to seek forgiveness from the family, who can accept so-called 'blood money' for sparing him.

Amnesty International in April said Iran executed at least 317 people last year, trailing only China, which carried out 470 death sentences.

Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Iran's sharia law, practised since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Rights groups and European governments have criticised Iran for an increase in the number of hangings since authorities launched a clampdown on "immoral behaviour" in July.

Iran routinely dismisses such criticism, saying it is implementing Islamic sharia law and points to what it says are rights abuses by Western governments.