Basij

For the anti-Taliban Afghan student organization see Basij (Afghan student organization).

The Basij (also Bassij or Baseej, or Baseej-e Mostaz'afin, or "Oppressed mobilization", or Template:Lang-fa), is a volunteer based Iranian paramilitary force founded by order of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on November 1979. It serves as an auxiliary force engaged in activities such as law enforcement, emergency management, and most controversially the suppression of dissident gatherings. They are perhaps most famous for provideing the volunteers that made up the "`human wave` attacks against the Iraqis" during the Iran Iraq War, "particularly around Basra." The Basij are subordinate to, and obey the orders of, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The official name of the body means Basij Resistance Force (Template:Lang-fa, transliteration: Nirouye Moqavemate Basij).

Organisation, personnel number and duties

Revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree founding the Basij as "a large people's militia", in November 1979. Basij forces often undertake general security checks in urban areas 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. They are active in monitoring the activities of citizens, enforcing hijab and arresting women for violating the dress code, and seizing 'indecent' material and satellite dish antennae. Along with the Iranian riot police and the Ansar-e-Hezbollah, the Basij have been active in recent years in suppressing student demonstrations in Iran. The Basij are sometimes differentiated from the Ansar in being more "disciplined" and not beating, or at least not being as quick to beat demonstrators.

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. Basij size is variously estimated as 20 million, by some Iranian officials; 3 million volunteers receiving training in some 11,000 centers, ; 11 million or just 400,000.

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).

In November 23 2000 civil defense exercises in Iran, armed Basijis took up positions in the streets and along strategic locations. In late September 2005, the Basij staged a series of urban defense exercises across the country. Its first deputy commander announced the creation of 2,000 "Ashura battalions" within the Basij that will have "riot-control responsibilities." Some speculate the recent "revival" of the Basij could be connected "with preparations for possible civil unrest."

Member profile and benefits

The typical member will be male (there are some female members as well) over the age of 12. Members of the Basij usually get a several 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 as government universities had quotas reserved for persons actively involved in the war efforts. Members of Basij usually enjoy the support of their communities and are often recruited more easily than non-members for various positions, especially security related positions.

As the Basij is a volunteer paramilitary organization, most Basiji are not permitted to carry a firearm except for special requirements. This means that only about 25% of Basij carry firearms, usually an AK-47. However there is no rule saying that they cannot use any other weaponry which has brought major controversy.

Also controversial is the fact that because the Basij is volunteer-based, its members cannot be sued for misbehavior as police or other public officials can. One can sue the chief of police -though practiccally pointless under Iranian law- but there is little chance of succeeding in a similar suit against 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" attacks during the Iran-Iraq War, particularly around Basra. Many were used as cannon fodder and for mine-clearing. [1]

• According to 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.

• Amnesty International claims 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".

• Human Rights Watch has reported 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."

See also

• Human rights in Iran
• Ansar-e-Hezbollah
• Government-organized demonstrations
• religious police

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)