1) Information on the forced recruitment of "volunteers" for the
Basij is not among the sources presently 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.]
2) Information on the denial of student diplomas for failure to
volunteer for the Basij is not among the sources presently
available to the IRBDC. However, in the book,
Iran, Under the
Ayatollahs, the Islamic Associations from University campuses
are mentioned in connection with the Movement of Militant Muslims,
and the Mujahedin of the Islamic Revolution. [Dilip Hiro,
Iran
Under the Ayatollahs, New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1987,
p. 137.] Members of these organizations stormed the United States
Embassy in Tehran. Islamic Associations existed in all "workplaces,
schools, universities, hospitals, neighbourhoods, and large
villages." [Hiro, p. 252.] The basic function of the Islamic
Associations (e.g. in the military), was that of "voluntary bodies
which concerned themselves with raising the Islamic consciousness
of their members and guarding the security of their units." [Hiro,
p. 250.] In June 1980, Khomeini began the University Crusade to rid
the Universities of un-Islamic ideologies of both staff and
students. [Hiro, p. 255.] Two hundred colleges and Universities
were closed down, and a "purging" of proponents of eastern or
western ideologies took place. The Cultural Revolution Committee
(or Committee for the Cultural Revolution), composed of seven
clerics and lay scholars, was formed to imbue the higher
institutions with Islamic ideals.
Please refer to the attached information from:
-
Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the
Ayatollahs, (1987), for information on the Basij.
-
Shahram Chubin and Charles Tripp, Iran
and Iraq at War, London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1988.
