TEHRAN The human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday called for urgent action to dissuade the Iranian authorities from allowing 16 planned executions to go ahead, including a reported mass hanging of 11 men. Of these 11 men, 3 have been pardoned by the victims' families.

"We have repeatedly asked the Westerners to study the laws related to the Islamic Republic and then give opinion about them," an analyst, Shazli Zaman said.

"The West intentionally wants to interfere in internal matters of Iran, leveling baseless charges," he said.

"The crystal clear fact is that adultery is punishable by death under Sharia (Islamic law), which has been observed since the setup of the Islamic Republic in Iran," Zaman recalled.

The Iranian Supreme Court this week upheld a death sentence by public stoning for a woman convicted of murdering her husband with the help of her lover.

Maryam Ayoubi, 31, was sentenced to death for slaying her husband and then burning the corpse.

The London-based human rights group called for people around the world to ask Iran's leaders for an immediate halt to the executions.

A report in the Persian language daily Qods on Tuesday said that eleven convicted murderers were to be hanged at the same time in Tehran's Qasr Prison the following day. Three of the condemned were pardoned yesterday.

The men, aged between 20 and 30 years, have all been found guilty of at least one murder each and the Supreme Court recently confirmed the death penalty for them, the paper said.

"They would be hanged in accordance with Iran's Islamic law of qesas -- or the principle of justice that takes an eye for an eye in retribution, except in case the nearest family members forgive the murderer," Zaman said and asked Westerners to study the Sharia and then talked about this issue.

"If Westerners were more familiar with Islamic law, they wouldn't be asking the government of Iran to stop the executions. In Islamic law, the authorities are only responsible for conducting a trial to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. Only the victim's family can grant forgiveness to the murderer. It is an insult to our culture and religion to ask the Iranian government to violate the Islamic law and stop the executions without the permission of the victims' families. If Amnesty International is so concerned about the lives of these convicted murderers, they should ask the victims' families to forgive these men," he said.

Amnesty also referred to reports that four other men and a woman have been sentenced to death, the latter by stoning.

"The Islamic law gives the Muslims the right to forgive the criminals or to take an eye for an eye and over one billion Muslims believe in it," Zaman said.

"Why hasn't the Amnesty group raised such strong objections to the actions of the Zionist regime, which has been killing innocent and oppressed Palestinians every day since Sept. 28. Why haven't they condemned the United States in such strong terms, since the laws of most U.S. states also allow the death penalty," Zaman said, voicing his anger.

"Such a move by Amnesty is nothing but open interference in Iran's internal affairs," Zaman insisted.