- 31 December 2009
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- 4 Comments
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- Events in Iran, Human Rights in Iran, Iran Election 2009
NIAC calls for Disarmament of Basij Paramilitary to Ensure Security for Iranian Citizens
31 December 2009 Posted By NIAC
For Immediate Release
Washington, DC – The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) strongly condemns the campaign of intimidation being carried out by the Iranian government against its citizens through the Basij paramilitary. NIAC calls on the Iranian government to disarm the Basij immediately and to end the violent repression of the Iranian people.
In the months following the disputed Iranian presidential elections, the Basij has been responsible for a brutal, escalating campaign of violence, both targeted and indiscriminate, aimed at silencing and intimidating Iranians attempting to express themselves freely and assemble peacefully.
The Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force that has evolved from a decentralized morality police into a full scale armed militia that receives orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government.
“To permit an armed, above-the-law, para-military group to roam the streets in the name of security is a contradiction in terms,” said Trita Parsi, President of the National Iranian American Council. “Security, free expression, free assembly and the full enjoyment of universal rights cannot occur as long as the Iranian government permits armed groups to suppress the Iranian people.”
Extensive documentation assembled by human rights organizations and the United Nations demonstrate that the Iranian government has utilized the Basij to terrorize its population through intentional physical harm, leading to scores of injuries and deaths. During the most recent events on the holiday of Ashura, witnesses described Basijis bloodying protestors with batons, wooden sticks and metal pipes, firing live rounds into crowds, and running vehicles over innocent demonstrators. Basijis on motorcycles use truncheons, tear-gas, pepper-spray, water cannons, chains, plastic bullets, and live ammunition to intimidate, injure, and kill peaceful demonstrators. In one instance, a protester was tied to the back of a van and dragged through the street. In other instances, students were thrown out of dormitory windows and off bridges.
The Basij’s repression is not limited to the acts of violence committed in public areas against demonstrators and bystanders, but also is carried out through violent nighttime raids in which they seek to suppress protesters chanting from their rooftops. Reportedly, Basijis break into homes, ruthlessly beat residents, destroy property and even shoot live rounds to silence people at their own residences.
It is apparent that the Basijis receive orders from the highest levels of the Iranian government and have significant access to arms, yet there has been no accountability for the violence they have inflicted upon innocent Iranians.
The United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 64/176 on December 18, detailing the “use of violence and intimidation by Government-directed militias” that have resulted in “numerous deaths and injuries.” The resolution expresses concern regarding the Iranian government’s “ongoing, systemic and serious restrictions of freedom of peaceful assembly and association and freedom of opinion and expression,” and calls on Iran to allow entry to and cooperate fully with UN human rights rapporteurs.
The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed shock following the upsurge in state supported violence during Ashura events and called on the government to restrain its security forces. “People have a right to express their feelings, and to hold peaceful protests, without being beaten, clubbed and thrown into jail,” Pillay stated.
Human rights organizations have submitted extensive documentation as part of Iran’s upcoming Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council in February detailing the Iranian government and the Basij’s appalling abuses. These organizations have called on the UN Human Rights Council to address violations by Iran of several covenants to which the government is party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Social, Economic, and Cultural Rights (ICESR), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provides that security forces must utilize nonviolent means before resorting to force, and such force must be proportionate and be subjected to an effective reporting and review process. The code also provides that firearms must not be used unless there is an imminent threat to life and only when strictly avoidable to protect life.
“Not only does the Basij paramilitary not abide by these international regulations, it is clear the force is being used in violation of international law as an armed pressure group to inflict fear, injury and death on those who disagree with the government,” said Dokhi Fassihian, of NIAC’s Board of Directors.
NIAC calls on the Iranian government to disarm the Basij, to instruct all security forces to refrain from the use of force against peaceful demonstrators, and to immediately halt state-sanctioned violence against the Iranian people
4 Responses to “NIAC calls for Disarmament of Basij Paramilitary to Ensure Security for Iranian Citizens”
I don’t disagree with the thrust of this call by the NIAC.
However, it’s misleading to state that the Basij evolved from a “decentralized morality police”. It fails to recognize the large contribution made by the Basij in defending Iran during the Imposed War. Even after the war, the Basij were more than a mere morality police, constituting an emergency management service while still retaining the basic rudiments of a reserve paramilitary force.
I think it’s safe to assume that there is some truth to rumors that elements of the IRIPF have a grudging relationship with this “amateur”, less widely trained security force. There must be inherent difficulties coordinating the two during street policing operations.
I haven’t seen any evidence of Basij (or IRIPF) use of water cannon during the post-election unrest. Can you point to the evidence?
Also, I haven’t seen evidence of Basij running over demonstrators. (The recent video clip actually depicts two IRIPF vehicles.)
And I haven’t seen evidence of Basij usage of less-lethal rounds (only the IRIPF).
Way to go NIAC. As broke as the holidays have left me, I’m going to donate money. Thanks again and keep up the good work.
But who is going to make sure “law and order” are maintained in Iran if there aren’t untrained people with weapons and no rules patrolling the streets? (sarcasm)
THE CALL FOR THE HANGMAN
ELECTION RESULTS – VIOLENCE – FATALITIES
ONE QUESTION ! – ONE ANSWER ?
• Question:
What does it really mean, if/when an election result of at least 35% [probably decisively more] of the voters is not only completely ignored but is at the same time being discredited, harassed and persecuted continuously in a pogromsimilar way by the government ?
• Answer:
Instead of one clear-cut-looking, logically seeming, one-dimensional and succinct answer some figures and various question marks referring to this complex question.
• ELECTION RESULT
Before the alleged „influence by foreign countries” an official election result of the Iranian opposition of approx. 36% [ – probably substantially more in reality ! – ] was published by the official organs.
• ELECTORATE – DEMONSTRATORS
Iran is probably the most modern society in the middle East. In Iran more than two thirds of the population are living in cities, in proportion a somewhat higher figure than in Japan. On the streets mainly the urban youth are demonstrating, the most numerous section of the population of the country.
• WHAT DOES AN ELECTION RESULT OF MORE THAN APPROX. 35% (OFFICIAL FIGURE) MEAN?
In the last national elections (2009) the comparably modest election results of the German ecological „Green“-Party was 10,7%. This percentage of approx. 10% has been an average result in regional and national elections of the last 20 years. These 10 % – a relatively small figure in comparison to the Iranian opposition election results of officially 35% – have forced all parties in Germany to adopt party programmes over the years with environmental protection as one of their main items on the agenda. No party in Germany (and probably in the whole of Western Europe) would be eligible so to speak without an ecological party program.
• DEMONSTRATIONS – DEATH RATIO
a) During the 2009 Iranian election protests [in the summer] 72 humans were killed (figures published by the opposition); officially the government has admitted a figure of 36 people having been killed.
b) How many people have been killed during all demonstrations and rallies taken together in the sixty-four years after 1945 until today in the following countries added up and all in all: in Switzerland plus (West-)Germany plus Austria plus Belgium plus the Netherlands plus Luxembourg?
[An informal but highly likely and reliable GUESS:
possibly NOT MORE THAN THREE TO SIX PEOPLE, if that ! ]
c) How many people have been killed during the abyssal regime change in East Germany (GDR) in 1989?
NO ONE WAS KILLED
[»In the summer of 1989 East German communists praised the Chinese Communist Party decision to use violence against Tiananmen Square protesters. […] The demonstrations began on Monday, September 4, 1989 at the Church of Saint Nicholas, in Leipzig with parson Christian Führer.
After the October 2 demonstration, Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader Eric Honecker issued a ‘shoot and kill’ order to the military. Communists prepared a huge police, militia, Stasi, and work-combat troop presence and there were rumors of a Tiananmen Square-style massacre.
On October 9, Leipzig’s [protesters] took to the streets under the banner “We are the people!”
Military surrounded the demonstrators, but did not take action. The Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, unsuccesfully attempted to spark violence by planting violent demonstrators in the middle of crowds.
Honecker had to resign on October 18.
The non-violent demonstrations were a key component in the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9 and ultimately led to the fall of the East German regime.
The German reunification happened within a year, on October 3, 1990. The complete process of change in East Germany is known as ‘Die Wende’.«]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaceful_revolution_%28German%29