TEHRAN: Family members threw a hand grenade inside an Iranian prison, leaving 28 people injured, in an abortive attempt to prevent an execution, state media reported on Monday.

“During the carrying out of a death sentence, family members of a convict launched a grenade attack in Ilam central prison which led to the injuries,” the official IRNA news agency quoted the western province’s police chief, Col. Ali Dolati, as saying. Dolati said that prison staff were among the injured.

He said that security personnel overpowered and arrested the assailants before they could detonate a second hand grenade.

IRNA reported that the hanging then went ahead of the prisoner, who had been convicted of murder.