Now the opposition is charging that the government has put uniforms on underage teenagers from distant villages and unleashed them to beat protesters.
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) complains that the tactic may breach international law forbidding the use of combatants under the age of 15. The international standard, however, addresses the use of child “soldiers” and it isn’t clear that the use of youths as police would be covered as well.
The Observer of London on Sunday quoted ICHRI as saying troops aged between 14 and 16 had been armed with truncheons and air guns and ordered to attack demonstrators as they tried to gather in Tehran. It said witnesses reported that the youths were deployed in regular riot police roles and comprised up to one-third of the total force on the streets on recent protest days,
One middle-aged woman, who said she was attacked by the youths, reported that some appeared to be as young as 12 and were possibly prepubescent. They had rural accents, which indicated they had been brought in from villages far from Tehran, she was quoted as saying.
Some told her they had been attracted by promises of chelo kebab dinners.
Hadi Ghaemi, the ICHRI executive director, said, “It’s really a violation of international law. It’s no different than child soldiers, which is the custom in many zones of conflict. They are being recruited into being part of the conflict and armed for it.”
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to take “all feasible measures to ensure that persons who have not attained the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities.”
Protesters who gathered on March 1 and 8 were met by a massive security presence that blanketed city squares and successfully suppressed any effort at protest.
“They are very keen to display violence,” Ghaemi said. “Teenage boys are notorious for that. They are being used to ensure there is a good ratio of government forces to protesters and because the average policeman in Tehran could have some kind of family connection to the people they have to beat up. It’s a classic tactic to bring people from outside, because they have no sense of sympathy for city dwellers.”