Basij

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Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps

IRGC Military Branches
IRGC Air Force Army Navy Qods Force Basij
Personnel
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Basij (also Bassij or Baseej, Persian: بسيج‎), is an Iranian paramilitary force that was founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in November of 1979 to provide volunteers for "human wave" attacks in the Iran-Iraq War. The Basij are currently a branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

1 Organisation, personnel number and duties
2 Human rights issues
3 See also
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Organisation, personnel number and duties

Female Basij Members

Basij commander Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi estimated the number of Basij personnel at 10.3 million in March 2004 and 11 million in March 2005. On 14 September 2005 he said that the Basij has more than 11 million members across the country. Russian news sources have claimed Iran has plans to make a third ground force consisting of one million basij members. However these plans have not been confirmed by Iran.^[1]

Basij forces often undertake general security checks in urban areas such as setting up street inspection posts to intercept drug smuggling and potential terrorism, although the number of Basij check points dramatically decreased after the Iran-Iraq war and following the disarmament of MKO in Iraq. According to the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy and GlobalSecurity.org Basij forces also enforce Iran's Islamic codes together with other law enforcement entities. The Basij has a quasi-decentralised network with branches in almost every Iranian mosque.^[1]^[2]

[edit] Human rights issues

The Basij have been criticised as belonging to the paramilitary forces using child soldiers because of their underage recruitment practices and for having relied extensively on "human wave" attacks during the Iran-Iraq War, particularly around Basra.^[1]^[2]^[3] Many were used as cannon-fodder and for mine-clearing martydom. [2]

Following the UNHCR "tens of thousands of Basijis had been ordered to prowl about every factory, office and school to ensure that everyone adhered to the Islamic code. [...] After the summer 1992 riots Basij units were revived, rearmed and sent out into the streets to help enforce Islamic law. The Basijis are reportedly under the control of local mosques. It was further said that the Basijis set up checkpoints around the cities and stopped cars to sniff their occupant's breath for alcohol and check for women wearing make-up or travelling with a man not their close relative or husband. It was reported that the Law of Judicial Support for the Basijis, published in the Official Gazette No. 13946 of 8.10.1371 (December 1992), provided no redress against arbitrary detention by the Basijis." Iran's permanent representative to the U.N. denied these charges.^[4]

Amnesty International tells that "investigations by Parliament and the National Security Council indicated that actions by Revolutionary Guard officials and Basij (Mobilization) forces, among others, precipitated the unrest and injuries following the July 1999 students demonstrations".^[5]

In July 1999, Ezzat Ebrahim-Nejad was shot dead in Tehran University dormitory by a member of Basij military force. The event initiated a huge demonstration.

In 2001, a member of the Basij, Saeed Asgar attempted to assassinate Saeed Hajjarian a leading reformist and political advisor to reformist Iranian President Mohammad Khatami. Asagar was arrested and sentenced to spend 15 years in jail, but was released after spending only a short term in prison.

Human Rights Watch informs that the Basij belong to the "Parallel institutions" (nahad-e movazi), "the quasi-official organs of repression that have become increasingly open in crushing student protests, detaining activists, writers, and journalists in secret prisons, and threatening pro-democracy speakers and audiences at public events." Under the control of the Office of the Supreme Leader these groups set up arbitrary checkpoints around Tehran, uniformed police often refraining from directly confronting these plainclothes agents. "Illegal prisons, which are outside of the oversight of the National Prisons Office, are sites where political prisoners are abused, intimidated, and tortured with impunity." ^[6]

On March 8 2004 the Basij issued a violent crackdown on the activists celebrating the International Women's Day in Tehran.^[7]

On 13 November 2006, Tohid Ghaffarzadeh, a student at Sabzevar University was murdered by a Basij member at the University. The murderer reportedly said that what he did was according to his religious beliefs. Tohid Ghaffarzadeh was talking to his girl friend when he was approached and stabbed with a knife by the Basij member.^[8]