Mohsen Sazegara, a political activist, journalist, and researcher, is considered one of the founding members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. He served as the political and social deputy minister and advisor to the executive affairs in the government of Mohammad-Ali Rajai. He was also involved in the establishment of the IRGC and was appointed as the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Heavy Industries Organization in 1982.

In this issue of Khat-e-Solh, we have discussed with Mr. Sazgara about the Basij Resistance Force and specifically its role as a judicial officer in the new criminal justice system. The Basij, according to the first article of the fourth chapter of the Constitution of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, was formed in order to “create necessary capabilities in all individuals who believe in the Constitution and the goals of the Islamic Revolution, to defend the country, the Islamic Republic system, and also to assist the people in times of disasters and unforeseen events with the coordination of relevant authorities.” However, in recent years, a plan has been approved in the Islamic Consultative Assembly that includes “military education, training and development, preparation and implementation of defense, construction, and assistance in scientific development” as part of the duties of this force. According to Mohsen Sazgara, this force has now turned into an anti-people and detested organization.

The complete text of this conversation passes from your esteemed readers’ perspective.

As you are aware, according to Article 29 of the new Criminal Procedure Law, Basij forces have been designated as judicial officers and the Attorney General has recently announced the necessity of issuing special identification cards for Basij forces in the near future. The question now is, what is the necessity of considering Basij as judicial officers?

The Basij force has been mentioned in the law as a judicial officer for several years, but the issue of issuing cards and allowing some people to arrest, detain and take away people is new. Especially with this new law, they want to give a lot of facilities to the Basij. According to this law, the government is obliged to give thousands of hectares of land to the Basij, and as a result, this organization will become larger than ever before, and God knows how much theft and corruption will occur in it.

Basijis have been used as judicial officers so far, and what do you think is the necessity for this issue to be raised in this way?

A judicial officer is someone who carries and delivers orders of investigation or court, or summons a defendant. However, in Iran, due to the fact that the Basij force is undisciplined and without order, it is often seen that they use force and violence against people based on their own personal interests. This action, especially when it is authorized, leaves the door open for some individuals to create more fear and terror. Recently, Mr. Gholamhossein Gheibparvar, the commander of the Basij, has stated that we want to create neighborhood patrols. All of these are for the purpose of strengthening the security atmosphere. In fact, the government’s analysis is that the voice of the dissatisfied, hungry, and poor people will rise and we will witness more dissatisfaction and possibly more uprisings. Instead of addressing these issues, they sharpen the knife of suppression and create fear in the hearts of people so that they do not dare to raise their voices. However,

Do you think this is a prediction for a stage that Basij is supposed to prepare for?

Yes; this is actually like an avalanche that has started from the mountain. You see, there is almost not a day that we don’t have several worker dissatisfactions at the country level. More than half of the 84,000 industrial units in the country – meaning units that have more than ten workers – and seven million workers are at risk of closure or crisis. They work with low capacities and have not paid workers’ salaries for one or two months, and sometimes up to ten or twenty months. A worker who has no bread takes it home and spreads an empty table as a sign of protest, and sometimes comes with his wife and children and protests. This is just one aspect of the avalanche that is coming down from the mountain. The other part is the large groups of employees in the country; like teachers or nurses who have also protested several times. Retirees in the country are also another group of protesters. Alongside all of this, there is a large number of unemployed

Gentlemen, in fact, with this recent issue regarding the Basij, they see the preparation for dealing with crises; in addition to dozens of other crises and rifts that have been created in our society. The major social rifts, one of which was shown in the recent earthquake; the people’s distrust of the government and the overall social distrust. The rifts between races and minorities in Iran. The gender rift that our women have been standing up for and fighting for for years. All dictatorships have gone through this path; they try to justify their existence by creating external threats and security. In any case, gentlemen are trying day by day to make the Basij more prosperous and throw themselves at the people like hungry wolves; rather, by frightening the people, they can continue this situation.

According to existing laws, many judicial officers have been defined. Does the recognition of a judicial officer as a member of the Basij cause disruption and lack of coordination in the work of other judicial officers, such as law enforcement, the Ministry of Intelligence, etc.?

Such disorders have occurred many times before. There have been cases where two information agencies of the country, namely the Sepah Information and the Ministry of Intelligence, have disarmed each other. In this regard, my own experience is related to the incident of Jomhuriyat newspaper; when a group of these Basijis poured in front of the newspaper and wanted to attack. They chanted slogans in the name of the families of martyrs and, of course, they also had wireless and weapons. We were caught by the local police. When the colonel from that police station came and saw them, he quietly told us that there was nothing we could do. In fact, in Iran, when these gentlemen in Basiji or plainclothes uniforms pour in, they attack, beat and shout, and the police practically stands in a corner and does not interfere. Or recently, in the incident of Mr. Ahmadinejad and his friends who went and sat in Shah Abdol Azim

Therefore, in response to your question about whether or not there is any disruption in the work of a real and disciplined officer, it must be said that this has been happening for years. This is what is known as chaos and the use of thugs who beat people (even in some cases, they have brought people with criminal records out of prisons and thrown them into the crowd), and it is a recurring issue; a prominent example of this was during the 18 Tir and Green Movement. The only difference now is that they are much more organized and have practically taken over all other branches of the government.

Can it be said that this recognition of Basij as a judicial authority has been done in order to justify interpretations such as the white shirts, personal clothing, self-made or self-motivated actions (a recent interpretation), and to have a legal basis?

“It’s the same. In fact, if someone – for example, a brave police officer – were to tell them who they really are, they would take out their cards and say, ‘I am an officer of the judicial system and I have come to arrest criminals.’ Although these gentlemen do not really need any legal justification; they have been connected to the Leader’s house for years. At one point, Mr. Moazzami, a clergyman at the Leader’s house, was responsible for organizing these matters. At another time, Mr. Razini, who was the head of the Tehran judiciary and in contact with the Leader’s house, was doing these things. For example, putting the money from the judiciary’s treasury into personal accounts, which started during Mohammad Yazdi’s time in the judicial system and continues to this day. In the bank, they deposit the people’s money that they entrust for lawsuits and they use the interest, which amounts to billions of tomans, exclusively for

Mr. Doctor Sazgara, what impact do you think this issue has on the daily lives of citizens?

In my opinion, it won’t make much of a difference. As I mentioned before, what they have been doing so far is completely visible. From now on, they will do it more openly and with greater scope. Everyone in every neighborhood and wherever they live has seen how the Basij of that neighborhood interferes with people’s lives, how they use force and take advantage of their power. This is an old story. It can be said that based on our initial discussion, the gentlemen, like many storms – or to use the initial interpretation, like a descending Aquarius from the mountain – are frightened and are strengthening and expanding these repressive apparatuses; in fact, by scaring people and creating more fear and showing their teeth, they can prevent these confrontations.

Basically, what is the inherent organizational duty of Basij in Iran, which has been emphasized from the beginning?

On the first day of the formation of the Sepah, it was planned for the Sepah to be a small organization with, for example, 500 permanent staff and four to five thousand or even fifty thousand part-time staff who would dedicate their time and receive training once a month. It was also expected that a number of volunteers from the general public would be ready to mobilize and organize the people in case of war and attack on the country. At that time, the assumption was that America would do something like this, which of course happened a year and a half later through Iraq. This is where the term “Basij” came from. The twenty million people who received basic military training were supposed to stand alongside the classic army in partisan groups with part-time staff and be led by a central staff of, for example, five hundred people, and defend the land and borders. This was the initial definition of the Sepah and Basij.

Furthermore, this organization was supposed to rush to the aid of the people in times of natural disasters such as earthquakes during times of peace. This means that in times of natural disasters, they were supposed to be made up of the people and help the people. Like the work that the National Guard of America does, or the responsibility of the non-military defense organization. This was the definition on the first day. However, gradually, men like Mr. Mohsen Rezaei, who were placed in command of the Revolutionary Guards, first removed the Revolutionary Guards from that initial definition and turned it into an army with ground, air, naval, and Quds forces for operations outside the country, and then created a Basij force alongside it and gave themselves ranks. Secondly, after the war, they became involved in economic and contracting issues, factories, and various other activities. Gradually, through involvement in illegal economic activities, they turned into a large corrupt economic mafia. During the reform era, they

Given the separation of the Basij Organization from the Sepah, how have their responsibilities been divided? Where do they overlap with each other?

Mr. Khamenei has had the plan for the Basij organization of the oppressed for several years now. For this reason, they separated the Basij from the Sepah and connected it directly to the Beit. They want this organization to be a tool for suppression and attack, as well as to teach them the culture of totalitarianism and absolutism, which Mr. Khamenei approves of. They believe that this religious culture should spread throughout society to make everyone a devoted follower of the Supreme Leader. This is why the Basij has entered areas such as cinema, books, and painting. However, in terms of operations, there are Basij resistance groups within the ground forces of the Sepah. This means that the Basij organization of the oppressed is connected to the ground forces of the Sepah. Therefore, when a movement like the Green Movement happened in 2009, the Sepah’s Tharallah base took over the command of suppression. Just as the police and

As a final question, do you think the fate of this force, considering its initial mission and the legal framework recently established for it, is today and what is its future outlook?

I have explained to you about its outcome, but it can be summarized in one sentence: it has turned into an anti-people and despised organization. Wherever you go to a university, you see how much the Basij student is hated among the students. Or in a factory or anywhere else. This is its current situation. It has become a rent-seeking institution, suppressing the people and serving the interests of the ruling powers. But as for its future outcome, it is clear to me that the same fate will befall it as in similar groups in other countries; they will melt like snow in the heat of the people’s anger. As soon as that young man coming down from the mountain grows up and the volume of people’s dissatisfaction increases, these Basijis will face their first problem in their own families, neighborhoods, and places of residence and will be reprimanded by their own loved ones. Eventually, some will be pushed aside by fear, some will be troubled by their

According to the Quran, they are like a mirage in the desert, and what benefits people remains on the earth.

Thank you for the opportunity you have provided us with to reach a peace agreement.

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