TEHRAN - Iran's judiciary chief has halted the execution of a man who was sentenced to death for committing a murder when he was 15, his lawyer told AFP on Wednesday.

Mohammad Reza Hadadi was to be hanged on Wednesday at Adel Abad prison in the southern city of Shiraz.

But his execution has been "halted following the order of judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi," Mohammad Mostafai said, adding that the supreme court has also asked for a review of the case.

Hadadi, now aged 20, was arrested in October 2003 for the abduction and murder of an elderly man. He was condemned to death in January 2004.

On May 1, Iran hanged a woman convicted of a murder committed when she was 17. That execution sparked international outrage, leading the Islamic republic to stop two similar hangings.

Iran is a signatory to a UN convention on children's rights which stipulates that members will not execute convicts found guilty of committing crimes as minors.

--AFP