Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei Praises Militia for Brutal Crackdown | DW News

Nov 26, 2022 | The Iranian football team's refusal to sing their national anthem was bigger news than the scoreline in their first match. But they were singing again ahead of their 2-nil win over Wales, following alleged pressure from the government. It is just one sign of the huge risks Iranian people are taking to show their dissent - at a World Cup increasingly overshadowed by human rights issues. But Iranians are not limiting their protests to stadiums in Qatar. Demonstrations continue in Iran - with several taking place in Tehran and other cities on Saturday, according to social media. Activists say security forces opened fire on a crowd gathered in the city of Zahedan in the southeast after Friday prayers. Dozens are feared dead or wounded. In a speech on Saturday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the Basij militias that have been at the heart of the government crackdown.

Moussavi bietet dem Regime in Iran weiter die Stirn: Miliz fordert Ermittlungen gegen Oppositionsführer
NZZ Online: Trotz drohender Strafverfolgung bietet der iranische Oppositionsführer Moussavi der Staatsführung weiter die Stirn. Er bekräftigte am Mittwoch seinen Widerstand gegen die Wiederwahl von Präsident Ahmadinejad. Die Basij-Miliz forderte unterdessen strafrechtliche Ermittlungen gegen Moussavi.

Die Präsidentenwahl vom 12. Juni sei illegitim gewesen, erklärte der nach offizieller Lesart unterlegene Kandidat in einer Internetbotschaft. Ausserdem forderte Moussavi die Freilassung aller politischen Gefangenen sowie Pressefreiheit und eine Wahlrechtsreform. >>> ap | Mittwoch, 01. Juli 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Mir-Hossein Mousavi Calls Iran Election Illegitimate in Renewed Defiance of Ayatollah

Iran's reform leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi urged his supporters on Wednesday to continue to fight for "the rights of the people" in his first rallying cry since the regime validated the results of the country's disputed presidential election.

Mr Mousavi reasserted his claim that the June 12 election was illegitimate, and demanded that Iran's hardline government release all political prisoners and institute electoral reforms and press freedom.

His latest defiance came as the Basij militia accused the opposition leader of undermining national security and asked a prosecutor to investigate his role in violent protests.

The move came amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the West.

On Wednesday, a senior Iranian military official suggested that nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the West would be further stalled in the wake of the protests, which the regime has accused European powers of masterminding.

Iran has particularly targeted Britain as an instigator of the protests, and on Monday arrested nine local employees of Britain's embassy in Tehran. Five were released on Monday night.

"It's not yet too late," said Mr Mousavi, who has slipped from public view in recent days. "It's our historic responsibility to continue our complaint and make efforts not to give up the rights of the people." >>> | Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Profile: Basij Militia Force
BBC: The Basij militia is an Iranian volunteer force of Islamic government loyalists which is often called out onto the streets at times of crisis to dispel dissent.

The force was originally set up by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 as a resistance force during the Iran-Iraq war.

They received limited training and were used for "human wave" attacks, for example being asked to clear Iraqi minefields by walking across them.

The size of the militia is an open question.

Many Iranian officials cite 20m - the number that Ayatollah Khomeini once suggested would be an invincible force - but independent estimates put the force at as little as 400,000.

A 2005 study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, estimated 90,000 full-time, uniformed, active-duty Basij members and 300,000 reservists.

There are also believed to about a million affiliates who can could be mobilized if need be.

The Basij-e Mostaz'afin, (literally Mobilization of the Oppressed in Farsi), officially known as the Basij Resistance Force (Nirouye Moqavemate Basij), has branches in every town.

It is commanded by a senior cleric and is an auxiliary arm of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard. >>> | Thursday, June 18, 2009