TEHRAN - Iran hanged a man on Thursday who had been found guilty of severely torturing and raping a 12-year-old boy in the western city of Hamedan, the state news agency IRNA reported.

The 23-year-old man, identified only as A., was hanged in a prison in Hamedan for raping and torturing the boy, named as Behzad, in February 2007, it said.

The Etemad Melli newspaper said the man was named Ali and an acquaintance of Behzad's family who was apprehended by a hospital guard when he tried to drop off the child after four days of "physical and sexual abuse".

"They took drugs and burned my body and tongue with cigarettes and a hot skewer. In these four days, we went around in the car in the morning and at night they tortured and raped me," Behzad told Etemad Melli.

Behzad was picked up from his house by Ali and his friend Mehdi in the absence of his divorced mother who "knew Ali and trusted him", the report said.

"The accomplice is also sentenced to death but his verdict has not yet been approved by the supreme court," IRNA said.

The execution brings to 14 the number of people hanged in Iran so far this year. On Wednesday, Iran executed 13 convicted criminals, including the mother of two young children who had been found guilty of murdering her husband.

Last year, Iran carried out at least 297 executions, according to an AFP count compiled from press reports.

The total was a sharp increase on 2006, when 177 executions were carried out, according to Amnesty International.

Iran currently makes more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from China. Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, serious drug trafficking and adultery.

Human rights groups have accused Iran of excessive resort to the death penalty, but the authorities say capital punishment is an effective deterrent that is only used after an exhaustive judicial process.