Iran: 1. What penalties or repercussions were likely for persons called to report for service in the Basij at the height of the war in 1984 who refused or failed to report/volunteer?
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 January 1990 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | IRN3675 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: 1. What penalties or repercussions were likely for persons called to report for service in the Basij at the height of the war in 1984 who refused or failed to report/volunteer?, 1 January 1990, IRN3675, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aafe23.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Information on the forced recruitment of "volunteers" for the Basij is not among the sources available to the IRBDC, but considerable pressure for the demonstration of Islamic loyalty was present in Iran following the revolution. Referring to the methods of Basij recruitment, one source states that "whether press-ganged, brainwashed or simply manipulated, they [Basij] went to war as volunteers, generally not only uncomplaining but positively enthusiastic". [ Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp, Iran and Iraq at War, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 1988), p. 133.] Volunteers for a force in Iran called Basij-e Mustazafin (Mobilization of the Deprived) were apparently recruited in over 9,000 Mosques, and, although poorly trained, "swarmed to the front to fight". [ Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987, pp. 237, 184, attached.] The Basij volunteer force was comprised of men over the age of 45 or under 18, and was also open to women. [Hiro, p. 237.] The availability of Islamic teaching materials in primary schools within six months of the revolution, and shortly thereafter in secondary schools, resulted in an increased Islamic fervor among teenage boys, and "explained the enthusiasm with which they joined the Basij force and volunteered to fight at the front." [ Hiro, p. 256.] One author put the size of the Basij army at 250,000 in the 1980s, [ Evand Abrahamian, Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin, (London: I.B. Tauris, 1989),
p. 70.] while another places the figure at "several hundred thousand at any one time". [ Chubin, p. 133.]
Information on the penalty for not volunteering for the Basij force is not among the sources currently available to the IRBDC.