Inside Iran's Police State

Since June 14, Iran has witnessed a mass popular uprising against a fraudulent election, which bears some close comparisons with the one that toppled the shah in 1979. But the enthusiasm and resolve of the Green Revolution has been held in check by the brutal tools of a sophisticated police state that learned from the shah’s equivocation. The tools used so far and those now in planning allow us to sketch the outlines of the Khamenei police state. They also allow us better to understand what the opposition means when it calls for the restoration of the rule of law in Iran.

One name now circulates: Saaed Mortazavi, nicknamed the “Butcher.” He is now expected to be given the protesters’ cases with a special mandate to deal with them swiftly.

Iran’s theocratic state has a number of police organizations that serve overlapping but different functions. It has conventional police officers, who are frequently characterized by protesters as more moderate and restrained. An informal, youthful paramilitary police called the Basij have carried much of the brunt of the effort to suppress demonstrators. The Basij are controlled by the Iranian Republican Guard and are under the authority and control of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei—with personal loyalty to Khamenei a principal criterion for recruitment of members. Before the uprising, the Basij’s major function consisted of enforcing rules of public morality—requiring women, for instance, to wear the hijab in public, collecting and destroying pornography, and monitoring for and destroying satellite dishes. The use of truncheons and physical brutality are Basij signatures.

These informal militias have been boosted dramatically in recent weeks with fresh recruits who have been told that the demonstrators are bent on toppling the state. They have been given full license to use harsh force to put the demonstrations down. Roozonline, a Farsi Internet newspaper, recently featured an interview with one of the new recruits. Here’s a summary by The Guardian’s Robert Tait of the interview:

“The man, who has come from a small town in the eastern province of Khorasan and has never been in Tehran before, says he is being paid 2m rial ($200) to assault protesters with a heavy wooden stave. He says the money is the main incentive as it will enable him to get married and may even enable him to afford more than one wife. Leadership of the volunteers has been provided by a man known only as ‘Hajji,’ who has instructed his men to ‘beat the counter-revolutionaries so hard that they won’t be able to stand up.’ The volunteers, most of them from far-flung provinces such as Khuzestan, Arak, and Mazandaran, are being kept in hostel accommodation, reportedly in east Tehran. Other volunteers, he says, have been brought from Lebanon, where the Iranian regime has strong allies in the Hezbollah movement. They are said to be more highly paid than their Iranian counterparts and are put up in hotels. The last piece of information seems to confirm the suspicion of many Iranians that foreign security personnel are being used to suppress the demonstrators. For all his talk of the legal process, this interview provides a key insight into where Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believes the true source of his legitimacy rests.”

Iranian authorities deny that orders have been issued to use lethal force against the demonstrators, but at a minimum many dozens of cases have been recorded in which protesters or individuals in crowds were shot or beaten to death. One particularly gruesome incident reported on June 25 near the Iranian parliament documented a militiaman wielding an ax to hack victims to pieces. Apparent evidence of his work can be viewed here.

Police suppression techniques include use of tear gas and helicopters dumping burning liquid on protesters (likely tear gas compounds suspended in water). Police also use cameras and other imaging devices to make images of the protesters for use in their later identification and arrest. The regime also uses torture.

View as Single Page 123 Back to Top June 26, 2009 | 12:10am EmailsEmails | | print Print International, Politics, Iran, Daily Beast Horton, Iran Bullet Fee, Bullet Fee, Khorasan, Republican Guards, Mir Hossein Moussavi, Roozonline, Khamenei Police State, Basij, Tehran Protests, Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Mehdi Karroubi, Iran Elections, Ayatollah Khamenei, Scott Horton, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (–) Show Replies Collapse Replies Sort Up Sort Down sort by date: boredwell

As you chronicle the torture, I, naturally, flash back to Abu Ghraib, GITMO, Bagram and America's program of enhanced interrogation techniques. Once torture is rendered, the body and mind are quickly broken, detainees of whatever stripe ready to say that which the torturer wants to hear. Once this information is given, redundant applications are more to appease or titillate the megalomanic sadists who administer these brutalities- the corruption of absolute power. That people should be forced to endure so much when asking for so little is horrific to behold. Allahu Akbar, the rallying cry of the demonstrators must be taking on different meanings for those arrested and inhumanely defiled.

While I do not conodone torture no matter what the name, you are comparing innocent Iranian citizens to violent and dangerous terrorists. America has a right to protect it's interests just as Iranians have a right to a fair democratic process. You are comapring apples to oranges here.

I naturally flash back to ":4 Dead in Ohio" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvg4n8Txgdc

These guys are amatuers. Get Cheney & Bush in to show them how torture is really carried out by pro's. Who are we now to stand in judgement. The west lost that moral right years ago with Abu Graib etc. What slippery slope to hell are we on.

Thank you. As a first time user, your comment has been submitted for review. Please allow time before your comment is available for viewing.

Tina Brown is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast. She is the author of the 2007 New York Times best seller The Diana Chronicles. Brown is the former editor of Tatler, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Talk magazines and host of CNBC's Topic A with Tina Brown.

Reza Aslan, a contributor to the Daily Beast, is assistant professor of creative writing at the University of California, Riverside and senior fellow at the Orfalea Center on Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He is the author of the bestseller No god but God and How to Win a Cosmic War.

The Daily Beast Video curates the most essential and entertaining video, and brings you original and exclusive productions from our talented contributors.

Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.

Gideon Yago is a screenwriter and the host of The IFC Media Project on the Independent Film Channel. From 2000 to 2007, he was an Emmy and Peabody award winning reporter for MTV News. His writing has appeared in Spin, Rolling Stone and Vice magazine and on NPR's This American Life. He lives in Manhattan.

Clive Irving is senior consulting editor at Condé Nast Traveler, specializing in aviation.

Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national security affairs for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.

I would like to receive occasional special offers from The Daily Beast, IAC companies, and select sponsors.

Lost your password? Check the box, enter your email above, then click Submit, and we'll email you a link to change your password.

Lost your username? Check the box, enter your email above, then click Submit, and we'll email you your username.

Please register to receive emails, comment and save cheats on the site. (All fields are required)

I would like to receive occasional special offers from The Daily Beast, IAC companies, and select sponsors.

Scott Horton is a law professor and writer on legal and national security affairs for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer, among other publications.

Related Articles