West is ignoring soaring executions in Iran

The West is sacrificing human rights abuses in Iran - which has executed 342 people so far this year - as it seeks to strike a nuclear deal with the regime, Soona Samsami, the representative of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in the United States warns.

Mrs. Samsami said the Iranian regime was now on target to execute 1,000 men, women and minors in 2015, compared to 721 people in 2014.

She added: "The executions have also been coupled with renewed repression against opponents of the regime, most notably targeting political activists and ethnic minorities. In fact, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Ahmad Shaheed, has noted that under the so-called 'moderate' Hassan Rouhani 'the overall situation has worsened'.

"Many opposition activists have alleged that the regime uses its war on drugs as a cover to crack down on dissent. The regime levies charges against opponents under drug laws in an attempt to besmirch their credibility.

"Former UN rapporteurs on Iran have documented examples of dissidents being executed as drug traffickers. Yet, the regime receives millions in funding from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with no strings attached, while it carries out these barbaric executions.

"The political climate of repression and censorship in Iran, coupled with lack of due process in the judiciary, create severe difficulties in finding the truth behind Iran’s executions."

But the West was ignoring human rights violations in Iran as it strove to reach agreement on an end to Tehran’s nuclear program.

She wrote in online journal The Hill: "If the recent killings are any evidence of what a 'post-nuclear deal' Iran looks like as far as human rights are concerned, then it is safe to assume that, as morally unconscionable as it is, human rights in Iran will continue to be sacrificed at the altar of negotiations with Tehran.

"Congress has a role to play to hold the clerics accountable for their rights violations. No sanctions relief is justified for a regime responsible for 120,000 political executions and imprisonment and torture of thousands more.

"On April 29, Maryam Rajavi, NCRI’s President-elect testified before House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Terrorism, non-Proliferation, and Trade and asked Congress to address Tehran’s nuclear threat and human rights abuses equally.

"'Acquiring a nuclear arsenal, abusing human rights, and exporting fundamentalism and terrorism are indispensable features of the ruling theocracy', Mrs. Rajavi said, adding, 'Upholding human rights in Iran and forcing the regime to withdraw from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Afghanistan offer a real yardstick to ascertain whether or not the regime has abandoned its nuclear weapons program. Anything short, however camouflaged or presented, amounts to self-delusion and acquiesces to the catastrophe of a nuclear-armed theocracy'.