Discover

The 'Basij' (also 'Bassij' or 'Baseej', ), is a volunteer based Iranian paramilitary force that was founded by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in November of 1979. The Basij are currently subordinate to the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (often known in the west as the "Revolutionary Guards"). The official name of the body means 'Basij Resistance Force' (, transliteration: ''Nirouye Moqavemate Basij'').

Contents

Organisation, personnel number and duties

Member profile and benefits

Human rights issues

See also

Notes

External links

Organisation, personnel number and duties

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 insurgency, although the number of Basij check points dramatically decreased after the Iran-Iraq war and following the disarmament of the MKO militant group in Iran. Basij also acts as an emergency management service, and is actively mobilized in case of earthquakes and other natural or human-made disasters. According to the Jordan Institute of Diplomacy and GlobalSecurity.org Basij forces also enforce Iran's Islamic codes together with other law enforcement organisations, though this also has experienced a considerable decline. The Basij has a quasi-decentralised network with branches in almost every Iranian mosque.^1[2]
The Iranian Government has exercised a manifold of different plans to keep the Basij alive, as its security role has been an ever-decreasing one after the end of the Iran-Iraq war. Among these plans is the emphasis on ideas such as Development Basij (Basij-e-Sazandegi).

Member profile and benefits

The typical member will be male (there are some female members as well) and the age can range from 12 on up. Members of the Basij usually get a couple of months slashed off their compulsory military service, which lasts 21 months for every eligible man in Iran. During the Iran-Iraq war, it was easier for the Basijis to obtain university entry due to the fact that government universities have a quota reserved for people actively involved in the war affairs. Members of Basij usually enjoy the support of their communities and often are recruited more easily than a non-member for various positions, especially security related positions.
The fact that Basij is volunteer based, although may have served its acceptance at its advent, has caused many problems over the years, perhaps the most important of which is that ironically you can sue a high rank police officer for misbehavior but there is little chance of going after an over-zealous 18-year-old member of Basij, no matter what he does.

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" defensive attacks during the Iran-Iraq War, particularly around Basra.^12[3] Many were used as cannon fodder and for mine-clearing martyrdom. [1]

★ 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 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 girlfriend when he was approached and stabbed with a knife by the Basij member.^[7]

See also

★ Human rights in Iran

★ Ansar-e-Hezbollah

★ Government-organized demonstrations

★ religious police

Notes

1. Mobilisation Resistance Force, GlobalSecurity.org, February 19 2006
2. The Use of Children as Soldiers in the Middle East and North Africa Region, Jordan Institute of Diplomacy, August 2001
3. Coalition to stop the use of child soldiers, Amnesty International, April 7 2001
4. Final report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, UNHCR, (E/CN.4/1994/50)
5. Report 2001, Islamic Republic of Iran, Amnesty International
6. hrw.org, Overview of human rights issues in Iran, December 31 2004
7.

External links

★ Basij Students Organization official website (from Internet Archive)

★ The Bassij, Israel’s Enemy from Iran

★ ''Heavy Weapons for Baseej Volunteer Militia'' from ''Rooz Online'' (from Internet Archive)