Report: Iran Has Executed 529 People in 2013 -- By Adam Kredo, The Washington Free Beacon

Iran has executed 529 people this year, including more 300 since President Hassan Rouhani assumed office in August, according to a tally compiled by the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC).

The number of executions have significantly spiked since Rouhani took office, leading some to argue that this clashes with his image as a moderate reformer.

Iran now has the dubious honor of being the global leader per capita in executions, according to the IHRDC.

The sharp spike in killing has prompted criticism from some observers who say that the United States and other Western nations are ignoring Tehran’s massive human rights infractions in order to facilitate Iran’s approval of a final nuclear accord.

“Under the shadow of negotiations, however, Iran’s appalling human rights situation has hardly changed,” Iranian activists Payam Akhavan and Shirin Ebadi wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed.

Executions have actually increased as Tehran engages in talks with the West, according to Akhavan and Ebadi.

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