Word: basij
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Both the Basij and the Revolutionary Guards Corps (or Sepah) were founded in the first year of the Islamic republic in 1979, following a decree by Iran's first Supreme Leader, Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini. "From the start, the Sepah was about building a popular army, one that had the duty to protect the Islamic republic from within," explains Moshen Sazegara, a founder of the Revolutionary Guards who later fell out with the regime and currently resides and works as a journalist...
Today the Sepah is estimated to have 125,000 forces, while the Basij - which by Imam Khomeini's initial intentions was to comprise "20 million" - is estimated to number up to 6 million and is active in most cities, towns and villages across Iran. The majority of Basijis are involved in volunteer services at mosques...
Over the years, however, certain units among the Basij were trained for state control purposes. In 1999 they appeared prominently as shock troops in quelling urban dissent after student demonstrations that initially sought greater freedom for the press. "Increasingly, Sepah used the Basij as a force for indoctrination and in the role of a watchdog group on campuses, factories and even tribal units," says Frederic Wehrey, adjunct senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp., who has done several joint studies on the Sepah. "The aim was to militarize civil society to prevent currents that the Islamic republic is opposed...
...There are many Basijis who were in support of Mousavi," says an Iran-based analyst who was previously an active member of the Basij and who requested anonymity. "Many Basijis are upset that the recent violence has been attributed to them...
Former Sepah founder Sazegara concurs, adding that many of the plainclothes men controlling the streets and meting out excessive violence to protesters are "intelligence personnel of the Sepah, some of them even with military degrees, but showing up in plainclothes to take on the appearance of the Basij...