Human rights groups have protested against the execution on Friday of a young Iranian woman for a murder committed when she was 17 years old.

Amnesty International said it was outraged by Delara Darabi's hanging and that she did not get a fair trial.

Ever since her confession Darabi, an artist, had said she was innocent. She said she had taken the blame to save her boyfriend.

The head of the Iranian judiciary recently granted a two-month stay of execution.

But according to her lawyer this order was simply disregarded by the prison authorities, who provided no notice of the execution.

"Mother, they are going to execute me, please save me," she said, before a prison official took the phone away and said: "We are going to execute your daughter and there's nothing you can do about it."

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy chief for the Middle East and North Africa, said that the execution was a cynical move to avoid international protests.