WASHINGTON, DC- Early this morning three young men -Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaqoubi-were put to death in Iran. They are only the most recent of the more than 200 victims of state-sanctioned murder this year in Iran. While the Islamic Republic's news outlets called these "executions," the young men jailed for peacefully protesting in recent pro-democracy demonstrations were denied fair trials and their families were not informed before they were killed. These young men were not executed. They were lynched.

The regime in Iran is revving the engines of its killing machine. Having previously attempted to crush dissent with bullets in the streets, it is now attempting to do so with nooses. If swift consequences are not imposed by the West, many more innocent Iranians may fall victim to such lynchings.

The lack of U.S. government action -whether in the executive or legislative branch- to hold the Islamic Republic accountable is unacceptable. Statements and condemnations at this point are not only meaningless but insulting. NUFDI calls on the U.S.

Congress to swiftly pass the MAHSA Act sanctioning Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi for human rights violations and for the State Department to bring diplomatic pressure on America's European allies to recall their ambassadors from Tehran at once. The United States should also use its presence at the United Nations to reverse the shameful decision to allow this child-killing regime to head the body's "human rights" social forum. Failure to act will signal to the Islamic Republic that they have the green light to murder more young, innocent Iranians.

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