A 57-year-old Iranian Jewish woman was murdered and her body reportedly cut in half in Isfahan, Israel Radio has reported.

The report stated that according to her relatives, the woman, named only as Tuba N, lived near a mosque, and its members "had demanded that she and her family leave their home so the mosque could be expanded."

Menashe Amir, an expert on Iranian Jewry who spoke to the victim’s family, told the Times of Israel that the family had been harassed for years with attempts to drive them from their home. The family went to the local courts “despite the threats to their lives.”

Mr Amir said that while the woman’s husband was away on business on Thursday, “thugs broke into her home, tied up her two sisters who were living with her, and repeatedly stabbed her to death”.

Reports differ as to what was done to the body. Some reports state that it was mutilated, others say that the body was cut in two.

Thugs repeatedly stabbed her to death

Iranian authorities reportedly have not returned the woman’s corpse.

Isfahan in central Iran is the country’s third-largest city, with a population of 1.5 million.