Word: basij
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...headed. The regime has crushed challenges to its authority before, most recently in 1999, when students poured into the streets to protest the closing of a reformist newspaper, prompting the government to unleash vigilantes on them. The state deployed its shock troops again this time: members of the Basij, a pro-Ahmadinejad paramilitary group, stormed dormitories at Tehran University, reportedly killing five students and detaining hundreds. At least one demonstrator was killed when a Basiji opened fire on a crowd. There are eyewitness reports of deaths from clashes across Iran. Yet no matter what transpires--whether the government bows...
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...