Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of an Iranian-German dissident sentenced to death in Iran, calling his treatment by Iranian authorities “bold and barbaric.”

Cruz discussed the case of Jamshid Sharmahd in an interview with VOA’s Persian service. Jamshed al-Shamahed, a dual Iranian-German citizen and opposition figure, is accused of masterminding the deadly 2008 bombing of a mosque in Shiraz. His family strongly denies the accusations.

Cruz said the Biden administration should cancel any contact with Tehran and “the international community should demand the Ayatollah’s immediate and unconditional release of Shamahad.”

Earlier this year, U.S. and Iranian officials reached a deal to release five Americans imprisoned in Iran in exchange for five Iranians accused of violating U.S. sanctions and to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian oil revenue.

In an interview with VOA, Cruz criticized the administration for “sending billions of dollars in Lamson to Iran.”

The unfrozen funds are earmarked only for humanitarian purposes in Iran, such as food, medicine and agricultural products.

Samad, 68, has been living in the United States and serves as a spokesman for the Tondar group, which seeks to restore the Western-backed monarchy that ruled Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution. His family said Iranian authorities abducted Shamahad during a stopover in Dubai in 2020. He faced death for “the corruption of the earth.”

Jamshid Sharmahd’s daughter Ghazaleh Sharmahd highlighted the increase in executions in Iran in an interview with VOA, saying: “We are witnessing a surge in executions in Iran “In the past year alone, 834 people have been executed. In January this year, more than 50 people were executed.”

Earlier, Ghazala Shamahead mentioned her father’s battle with Parkinson’s disease and expressed concern that his health could deteriorate to a life-threatening level.

She also said last November that her father had endured “more than 1,185 days” in solitary confinement.