Iran using children in security roles in war, reports and witnesses say

BBC:

The death of an 11-year-old Iranian boy reportedly in an air strike while manning a security checkpoint alongside his father in Tehran has thrown focus on a new initiative to recruit children into the security services.

Alireza Jafari’s mother Sadaf Monfared told the municipality-run newspaper Hamshahri that the pair had been helping Basij volunteer militia patrols and checkpoints to “maintain the security of Tehran and its people” when they were killed on 11 March.

Last week, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official in Tehran told the IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency that the organisation would enrol “volunteers” aged 12 and above.

Eyewitnesses have told the BBC they have seen children, including some armed, in security roles in the capital and other cities.

Foreign-based human rights organisations have also reported Alireza’s death. The Kurdish group Hengaw said he was a “fifth-grade student” who was killed while present at a checkpoint in Tehran.

Alireza’s mother said her husband had told her there were not enough personnel at the checkpoint, with “only four people” present. She said he took Alireza with him and said that the boy needed to be “ready for the days ahead”.

She quoted her son as saying: “Mum, either we win this war or we become martyrs. God willing, we will win, but I would like to become a martyr.”

Hamshahri newspaper said they were hit by an “Israeli drone strike”.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC they were unable to verify this unless provided with the co-ordinates of the alleged strike.

Rahim Nadali, of the IRGC’s Greater Tehran Muhammad Rasulollah Corps, said the new programme, known as Homeland Defender Fighters for Iran, would place children on various duties, including patrols and deployment at checkpoints.

Recruitment, he added, could take place at mosques attached to the Basij militia in Tehran, and in city squares where pro-establishment rallies have been held.

The Basij is a volunteer militia controlled by the IRGC, with an estimated one million members. It is often deployed on the streets to suppress dissent. Israel has said it recently targeted several Basij checkpoints.

Despite a government-imposed internet outage in Iran, the BBC has spoken to four eyewitnesses who said they had seen children under the age of 18 at checkpoints in Tehran, the nearby city of Karaj, and the northern city of Rasht.

Names have been changed for security reasons.

Golnaz, who is in her 20s in east Tehran, told the BBC that she had seen armed teenagers taking part in Basiji forces when she went out after an air strike on 9 March to see what was going on.

Sara, also in her 20s in west Tehran, told the BBC that she saw a teenager at a checkpoint on 25 March.