Basij militiaman: 'I hoped it would never come to shooting them'

The Basij militia has been blamed for extreme brutality in the violent aftermath of the contested June 12 election in Iran. A Basij commander, who volunteers for one of the Tehran branch of the militia, describes his account of one the bloodiest clashes, on June 20.

Iran's Basij militia is a pro-government volunteer force which comes to the aid of the regime when unrest hits the streets. It was established by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 during the Iran-Iraq war. During the last three weeks the Basij has been called upon by the government to quell the post-election protests, in which at least 20 people were reported to have been killed. The opposition says the figure is much higher.

Mehdi (not his real name) is a 39-year-old Basij commander and a former classmate of one of our Observers from Tehran (who prefers not to be mentioned). Mehdi led a mission in the city centre, close to the Tehran military base, on June 20, one of the most violent days of the clashes.

I did shoot at people myself. I am a military man I have to obey my orders. The crowd was attacking us like crazy people; throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. We had to protect ourselves; to show we were serious, and we did warn them, shouting several times, before opening fire. But they continued to attack. I don't remember who I shot, I just tried to shoot at the people's feet.

Later, we moved back and went behind the vans in middle of the street and I ordered my unit to shoot into the ground in the hope of scaring the crowds from coming closer.

I hoped it would never come to shooting them. That night, I had a nightmare in which the protestors threw me on a fire. It's come back several times, and I can see the faces of the people I was ordered to shoot. I've asked a very spiritual mullah to pray for me.

I did it for Islam but it wasn't easy to kill people. We have to remember who they are though - they're deceitful people who are against the Islamic Revolution. You can't expect us to stay calm when they want to overthrow our regime."

Comments

If you are Iranian, and used

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sun, 05/07/2009 - 12:12.

If you are Iranian, and used to live in Iran, then you know that most of Iranians don't believe to this regime and hate it. So we don't need British or other governments to lead us, this is a propaganda of regime. We fight against Mullas regime and victory is closer than what you might think. Long live Iran, the heart of great Persia, and shame on Basij, Mullas, and the Islamic Regime. Peace and freedom for all Iranians or people under non-Democratic regimes.

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I can't buy the story by france24

Submitted by shamim (not verified) on Mon, 06/07/2009 - 00:43.

weather true or false the way France24 wanted to sell the story I just can't buy it. this is an example of yellow journalism.

If Iranian government medias are running propaganda so does the France24; only to be in the opposite side.

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You can refer to the

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Mon, 06/07/2009 - 13:54.

You can refer to the interviews of Dr. Ebrahim Yazdi (once foreign minister of khomeini)because of anivesary of "islamic" revoloution, to see how "Imam" and his folk sent their political opinion and statements for G7 in Gouadelope to proof that they are the same dog for westen as the Shah.

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The West

Submitted by DontDriveDay (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 16:41.

It is so insulting, this constant propaganda that the protesters are working for foreign agents. They are agents for themselves. The other agents who have provo0ked them are domestic Iranian agents who constantly infringe on Iranians' rights, arrest them, torture them, kill them just for the temerity of asking for the rights promised them in the Iranian constitution. Too bad you can't travel back in time amd kill the 1908 comstitutionalists who fought for three years to get rights for their people from the Qajjar dynasty, because they are the inspirational root of the protests today. The current reform movement was restarted in the 1980s when there was very little contact with the west. They don't need the west to inspire them. They have their own history and culture for inspiration. In the last 30 years we have seen too many people, the best and brightest of Iran, die for wanting what their constitution promises. I cannot understand how ANYONE but a propaganda agent or someone getting rich off the regime can continue to defened Ahmadinejad, Khamenei and their thugs. Shame.

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basij is not a voluntarily made group

Submitted by ario (not verified) on Sat, 04/07/2009 - 13:18.

i just wanted to asy they are not completey volunteer, almost all of them are get paid and they have special rents from the government and the mosques. not any voluntarily working human is brutal enough to shoot ordinary people.

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I guess by "volunteer" they

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 00:02.

I guess by "volunteer" they dont mean that you work for free but that you DONT HAVE TO join the basiji. There is no selective service like for the army for example.

But what really is wrong, is that it was founded during the Iraq-Iran War in 1979, because there was no war at that time.

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still lies

Submitted by elena (not verified) on Sat, 04/07/2009 - 12:49.

During 3 weeks of protest more than 100 people died in the street and now
hundred of people hanging in the prison.
Basij check every car at night.
This is not what Islam said.Ahmadi nejad ,Khameni and Basij are Devils...
they did not let us know the real number of murdered people.

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Elena: this is precisely

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 14:06.

Elena: this is precisely what Islam says - Quran also says that you can kill the kuffar (non-believeres) take their wives and houses, rape their families and their young and pacify through whatever mneans neccesary.

People know little of this religion of hate!

A proud Iranian

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With all due respect, the

Submitted by DontDriveDay (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 16:51.

With all due respect, the bible also has many statements about killing unbelievers and committing violence against other people. It also allows selling one's own daughters into slavery. The problem isn't Islam, it is any unquestioning faith in any belief system. There is much beauty in Shi'ism, there are many gentle mullahs in the world, and many mullahs in Iran who wish to see separation of Mosque and state and have marched with the protesters. But too often people seize on things written during ancient wars to rationalize their own crimes and repress other people now, instead of the message that remains universal in all times, to save one person is to save all of humanity.

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Marg bar bassidji

Submitted by Unregistered user (not verified) on Sat, 04/07/2009 - 11:57.

Marg bar bassidji

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The view from the other side

Submitted by Adrian Wainer (not verified) on Sat, 04/07/2009 - 09:57.

Thank you to France 24 for giving the view from the side of the regime. The Basiji says, "I've asked a very spiritual mullah to pray for me.", he would be better asking asking the man he would consider a very spiritual Mullah, this question, "How would it be that reality did not seem to work any longer during the recent elections, for sure Allah the merciful and the compassionate can make specific miracles but these miracles will, I presume be for a specific purpose and clearly identifiable as miracles, surely Allah will not just throw a whole load of miracles in to life for no reason and without people being able to see them as miracles and their purpose, because if Allah did act in that way, people could not tell if they were going crazy or witnessing a miracle. If you have no way of knowing if you are going crazy or not, how can you exercise free will to follow the example of the Prophet Mohammad PBUH in acting as a servant of Allah?" And if the Mullah answered that he did not believe miracles occurred during the recent elections, the Basiji could ask, "Well if miracles did not occur, many of things which happened in the election are so bizarre they are not logically possible to happen, so does this mean our Government has told lies and stolen the election and the real winner of the election is Mr Mousavi?"

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

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The Nature of a Miracle

Submitted by helmalou (not verified) on Tue, 07/07/2009 - 01:13.

"The idea of a miracle in the sense of a violation of laws by the will who made them is not only contrary to common sense, but to the very idea of will itself. A 'miracle' can only be a manifestation of laws which are unknown to men or rarely met with. A 'miracle' is the manifestation in this world of the laws of another world." Peter Ouspensky In Search of the Miraculous p84

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