TEHERAN - IRAN on Wednesday hanged nine men and a woman convicted of murder in Teheran's Evin prison, the Fars news agency reported.

The official overseeing the execution was quoted as saying 'the woman was convicted of killing her temporary marriage husband by cutting him into pieces.' Vatan Emrouz newspaper, identifying the woman as Fatemeh Pajoh, said she was 'suspicious' of her temporary husband, but gave no details.

Some Iranian human rights groups have said she killed her husband for raping her daughter.

In Shi'ite Islam, men and women are permitted to marry on a temporary basis.

Iran's judiciary insists that retribution in murder is a private right and that is up to the victims' families to determine whether the death sentence should be carried out.

Under Iranian law, a murder victim's family can spare a convict's life by accepting blood money. Some families have also been known to forgive a murderer without demanding compensation.

Many of the convicts are poor, making it hard to to raise the blood money, which is officially set at US$55,000 (S$82,994) although some families demand more.

The human rights groups, notably the human rights defenders circle led by the Iranian lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, have repeatedly criticised the rising number of executions in Iran.

The latest hangings bring to at least 216 the number of executions in Iran this year, according to an AFP count.

Amnesty International says Iran carried out more death sentences in 2007 than any other country apart from China, executing 317 people.

Capital offences in the Islamic republic include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery. -- AFP