The word ‘Basij’ (Mobilization) which is one of the most hated words in Iran since the start of the mullahs’ rule is today reminiscent for most Iranians of a character with attributes like mercenary, criminality, ragged nature (Lumpenism), and sloppiness, and finally, the thugs of society and those people who the rulers hire to control the people and repress them.
In the 8-year Iran-Iraq war, they were whose young people, mostly underaged, were used as minefield cleaners for the IRGC.
After the war, these group of people changed their goals and started the repression of the people. The regime’s hardline cleric Ahmad Alamolhoda in 2020 revealed the goal of the Basij and its class descent: “Many of the young people who had become thugs in their regions because of poverty and deprivation became local Basijis with the right cultural work and getting to know Imam Hussein, who prevented many of the riots. (Hamshahri Online, October 8, 2020)
Earlier, one of the IRGC commanders Hossein Hamedani, who was killed in Syria, had explained this issue better:
“We did something with intelligence work that was a boom in Tehran. We identified 5,000 people who were present in the riots but were not from any political parties and movements, but were among the miscreants and thugs, and controlled them at their homes.
“The day they called (for protests), they were controlled and were not allowed to leave the house. Then I made them members of the battalion. Later, these three battalions showed that if we want to train mujahedeen, we must bring such people who are dealing with blades and machetes to work. One of these was a man named Sattari. When he hit the crowd, he was injured by 70 percent and was martyred last year.” (Tabnak, October 9, 2015)
If we want to compare the Basij with armed forces outside Iran, we can compare them with Hitler’s protective squads or the SS which were the most important tools of Hitler’s terror.
Source: Iran News Update
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