The woman, identified as Zahra Ismaili, had been convicted of killing her husband, who was a senior official in the Ministry of Intelligence.

Her lawyer, Omid Moradi, claimed her husband had allegedly been abusive to both her and their daughter and that she had acted in self-defence.

However, the mother-of-two was sentenced to death by hanging.

On the day she was to be executed, she was reportedly made to watch as 16 men were hanged in front of her while waiting her turn at Rajai Shahr Prison, west of the capital Tehran. 

She died of a heart attack before it got to her turn but they still went ahead to hang her, according to local news.

Following her death, her lawyer, Mr Moradi, took to Facebook to describe how the events unfolded. He claimed his client’s body was still hanged after she collapsed, to allow her husband’s mother to kick a chair away from beneath her.