Iran leader praises force tasked with quashing dissent – many protesters blinded by security forces, say doctors
- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Basij – the paramilitary wing of the elite Revolutionary Guard – ‘saved people from a bunch of rioters and mercenaries’
- 140 ophthalmologists raised concerns about rising numbers of patients with severe eye injuries from being shot with metal pellets and rubber bullets
Iran’s supreme leader praised paramilitary volunteers tasked with quashing dissent on Saturday in a televised address as dozens of eye doctors warned that a rising number of demonstrators have been blinded by security forces during anti-government protests.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed members of the Basij, the volunteer paramilitary wing of the elite Revolutionary Guard, and reiterated unsupported claims that protesters demonstrating countrywide are “tools” of the US and its “mercenaries.”
“(The) Basij should not forget that the main clash is with global hegemony,” Khamenei said, referring to the US. The address marking Basij week in Iran echoed previous statements lambasting the protests as a foreign plot to destabilise Iran.
Extolling the military and social virtues of the Basij over the decades, Khamenei said the forces “sacrificed themselves to save people from a bunch of rioters and mercenaries,” referring to the recent countrywide unrest. “They sacrificed themselves to confront oppression.”
The Basij have taken a leading role in clamping down on demonstrations that began September 17, ignited by the death of a young woman while in the custody of Iran’s morality police. Her death sparked months of protests over the country’s mandatory headscarf but quickly morphed into one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the chaotic years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.