Iran executions: It's of no interest to this regime since they can't blame Israel

Iran executions surge amid U.S. nuclear talks

Human rights advocates urge Obama to increase pressure on Tehran

Iran’s abuse of human rights, including the hangings of hundreds of dubiously convicted citizens — in several cases minors — has soared over the past year, even as the Obama administration has yielded to Tehran’s demand for an extension in precarious international talks over the Islamic republic’s disputed nuclear program.

With more than 560 executions over the past nine months, and a high-profile Iranian-American journalist detained for undisclosed reasons, rights groups and regional analysts say Iran’s record may be worsening in the backdrop of potential detente with the West.

While the State Department has voiced disapproval of “serious violations of due process” in the Islamic republic, the situation is prompting some in Washington to criticize the Obama administration for not applying more public pressure on Tehran to adhere to international human rights standards.

“The administration has really made a big mistake in not repeatedly highlighting abuses,” said Mark Dubowitz, an authority on U.S. nonproliferation strategy and executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “By ignoring Iran’s poor human rights record, the administration is actually playing into the Iranians’ negotiation games, effectively legitimizing Tehran as a responsible international player.”

Mr. Dubowitz said the White House does not seem to be seizing on a classic human rights lesson of the Cold War era.

“The lesson from Ronald Reagan,” he said, “is that you can and should negotiate arms control agreements at the same time that you’re using the U.S. presidential bully pulpit to highlight the human rights violations of a given regime — in this case Iran, although back then it was the Soviet Union — in order to expose that regime as untrustworthy to follow through on any commitments, including arms control commitments.”

Execution rates soar

During the 14 months since Iranian President Hassan Rouhani took office, Iranian authorities have carried out at least 936 executions, according to data compiled by the Connecticut-based Iran Human Rights Documentation Center.

The statistics are consistent with data collected separately by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a dissident organization with offices in Europe and Washington that is preparing to publish a book-length report on the executions titled “Behind Rouhani’s Smile.”

An advance copy provided to The Washington Times notes the executions of at least 22 women since Mr. Rouhani took office and highlights more than a dozen cases of people younger than 18 accused of crimes and hanged. One case involved Iraj Nassiri, whom the report says was “less than 15” when Iranian authorities accused him of “premeditated murder.”

State-sanctioned executions of people convicted of crimes committed as minors is a sensitive issue on the international stage. The U.S. made negative headlines around the world from 1985 to 2003 by carrying out 22 such executions.

But rights advocates and U.S. officials argue that the practice is particularly worrisome in Iran because of opaqueness in its legal system.

Who gets hanged?

Some in Washington’s foreign policy community say Iran makes regular practice of executing political prisoners. But with less than half of the executions officially announced by Iran, uncertainty looms in many cases over who exactly is being hanged and on what charges.

There are pointed examples of people hanged purely for ethnic and political reasons, but Iranian authorities claim about 70 percent of executions are for drug- and trafficking-related convictions handed up by the Islamic republic’s judiciary.

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