{"id":14689,"date":"2020-01-01T22:01:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-01T21:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=14689"},"modified":"2020-01-01T22:08:31","modified_gmt":"2020-01-01T21:08:31","slug":"get-to-know-irans-police-special-units-who-killed-1500-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/01\/get-to-know-irans-police-special-units-who-killed-1500-people\/14689\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know Iran\u2019s Police Special Units who killed 1,500 people?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Get to Know Iran\u2019s Police Special Units who killed 1,500 people? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200cBy Daniel Mahdavi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December 15, the National Council of Resistance of Iran<\/a> (NCRI)announced that 1,500 people had been killed in the November uprising of the Iranian people. On November 23, Reuters quoted a number of Iranian Interior Ministry officials confirming the NCRI\u2019s statistics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this\nreport, we dig into who are the suppressive forces of the Iranian regime are killed\nthe protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian\nregime\u2019s oppressive forces that participated in the suppression of the recent Iranian\npeople\u2019s protests are from various sectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Law\nEnforcement Force and\ncounter-insurgency guards alone are incapable of dealing with angry protesters.\nAlthough the police resort to violence against protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second force is the Revolutionary <\/a>Guards Corps<\/a> (IRGC), who enjoy a green light in killing people. The IRGC is composed of various departments, such as plainclothes agents and the paramilitary Basij.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the main\nrepressive branch of the Iranian regime\u2019s forces that killed and suppressed the\npeople is the Iranian Police Special Units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOPO, officially standing for\u00a0the Special Counter-terrorism Force, is a\u00a0 riot <\/a>police<\/a> unit. Special police forces are organized into three units, namely the Imam Khomeini, Amir al-Momenin, and Musa bin Jafar units. NOPO forces are a subset of the Amir al-Momenin unit. NOPO units are seen in \u00a0black uniforms and vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iranian\nPolice Special Units itself\nwas under the command of the IRGC. At the outset of the Revolutionary\nCommittees it was under the \u00a0IRGC, which\nwas often the most radical and violent unit of the IRGC. At the\nbeginning of the formation of this force from the so-called Revolutionary\nCommittees, it was called the IRGC\nSpecial Units, often being the most radical and violent branch of the IRGC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nRevolutionary Committees at that time were a repressive force that interfered\nwith the most private part of people\u2019s lives. After 1981, the force that mostly arrested,\ntortured and killed people were patrols known as \u201cThar-Allah\u201d and \u201cJund-Allah\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the 1980s Iran-Iraq\nwar, most of the Revolutionary committees formed a division called the brigade\nof Musa-bin-Jafar. The\ncommander of this brigade was a man named Mojtaba Abdullahi. The same man later\ncombined the two brigades of Musa-ibn-Jafar and the Brigade of Qawamin to establish\nthe 28^{th<\/sup> Ruhollah Division\nand was commander of the same division for several years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n}

After the Iran-Iraq war,\nthe Iranian regime decided to combine the police and gendarmerie units into the\nLaw Enforcement Force.\nBranches\nof the 28 Division of Ruhollah and Brigade of Musa-bin-Jafar also formed the Iranian\nPolice Special Units.\nMojtaba\nAbdullahi took command of the Iranian Police Special Units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mojtaba Abdullahi former special unit commander <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Mojtaba\nAbdullahi was the special unit commander for 21 years and a trusted confidant of\nIranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In all\nthe protests of recent years, the entry of Iranian Police Special Units members\nhas been equal to the violent suppression of protesters. This is especially\ntrue in a situation where the regime cannot stop the anger of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since the\n1990\u2019s,\nthe Iranian Police Special Units have gained a unique place among the regime\u2019s\nsuppressive forces. In June\n1992, when the people of Mashhad, Arak, Mobarakeh (in Isfahan) and Chahardangeh (in\nTehran Province) held numerous demonstrations, this force was dispatched for the\nfirst time and its units crushed the people of Tollab alley in Mashhad through the\nmost violent methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two years later, in 1994, the special unit again\ndemonstrated its brutality during the Qazvin uprising. oppressive units, \u00a0They killed between 5,000 and 7,000 people in\nQazvin, far more than any other atrocities by other oppressive units. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A year later, the drivers\u2019 uprising in Eslamshahr was\nanother test for the special units in which they also brutally suppressed the\nuprising. Afterwards, the regime began further dispatching these\nspecial units to suppress demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\n1999, \u00a0the Revolutionary Guards called on\nthen president Mohammad Khatami to suppress the nationwide college student\ndemonstrations. Khatami replied, \u201cRound them up but units should be without\nuniforms.\u201d The\nRevolutionary Guards went on to kill dozens of students by hiring Iranian\nPolice Special Units who appeared in plainclothes. They threw protesters students\ndown from tall buildings and apprehended many others. Their whereabouts remain\na mystery today. In 2009 and following the presidential election that led to a\nmassive popular uprising, the regime extensively used special unit to suppress\nthe people. This was in addition to the Basij, and organizational forces of the\nIRGC and the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Iranian\nPolice Special Units were again the core of crackdown measures against\nprotesters during large-scale popular and anti-government protests in about one\nhundred cities in 2017 \u2013 and in protests through the course of 2018,. However, these repressions\nwere not comparable to the suppression of the 2019 November protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commanders\nof these forces claim that the Iranian Police Special Units are not equipped\nwith firearms. This is a lie and Special unit equipped with advanced weapons were\nordered to suppress protesters as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the November uprising, with more than 1,500 killed and 4,000 wounded<\/a>, the main suppressive forces involved included Special Units and plainclothes agents equipped with a variety of automatic weapons<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the\nearly days of the November protests, they basically targeted people in the head\nand chest areas a with sniper rifle from the top of buildings. In the following days,\nthey used machine guns, as they did in Mahshahr, and in some areas, such as\nShiraz, authorities used helicopters and armored vehicles in Khorramshahr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Each of Iran\u2019s 31\nprovinces has its own special unit coordinated operationally with the\nprovincial police commander In terms of training and general command, they are\nunder the supervision of the Central Special Unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nIranian regime has never announced the numbers of Iranian Police Special Units.\nMost of them, however, are based in Tehran due to the capital\u2019s political significance\nand usually the main demonstrations in the last two decades have taken place in\nTehran and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iranian\nPolice Special Units weapons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heckler & Koch G3:<\/strong> This weapon, armed with 7.62 x 51mm bullets, is extremely accurate,\nespecially in single-shot mode. This weapon is now\none of the main special unit arms due to as it is equipped with a 4x\nmagnification camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
**$\"\"$** Heckler & Koch G3 uses by IRGC Police Special Units <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Automatic and semi-automatic\nweapons: The most common type of weapons\nin the hands of Special Units members are organizational automatic and\nsemi-automatic weapons. Weapons with a\nvariety of caliber capabilities (over 6mm) commonly used for firing like the bullets,\nsuch as the AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle and\nthe MP5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
AK-47 Kalashnikov and the MP5 uses by IRGC Police Special Units <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The Iranian Police Special Units also\nhas lumbar weapons. The most common are the Raad and Zaaf pistols, both\nproduced domestically by the regime\u2019s defense industry while copied from the\nWestern version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Raad and Zaaf pistols whicn uses by <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Light Weapon \/\nOne-shotgun: One of the special weapons widely used during to suppress recent protests\nwas the Flobert single-shot and light weapon. This weapon, fires a low-caliber (usually 2mm) ball or cone\nbullets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shotgun\nWeapon: These shotguns have come into two types: \u00a0low and high power. The ammunition used in these weapons are capsules filled with\nsmall pellets fired at high pressure. The powerful ammunition disrupts the target\nfrom close range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$\"\"$
Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam military officer who served as Iran\u2019s Chief of police Using Shotgun <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Heavy machine guns: In a number\nof videos released from the November protests in Mahshahr, high-caliber machine\nguns (Dushka) were installed behind pickup trucks in the city. Machine guns were been used against protesters who fled to\nmarshland areas where they sought to take cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
Mahshahr, southwest #Iran<\/a>
Footage of the mullahs' vicious killing spree in this city.
Voice heard saying, \"Viva the youth of Jarahi,\" referring to a district in Mahshahr. Reports indicate the IRGC killed 40 to 100 locals, and possibly more.#IranProtests<\/a>pic.twitter.com\/HzJu1EVVR4<\/a><\/p>\u2014 People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) December 3, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>