Iran: Public anger over conscription, security forces react violently
Massive security arrests by Iranian security forces against demonstrators rejecting compulsory military service to escape the inhuman treatment taking place in Iranian military camps.
A group of university students organized a demonstration in front of the Iranian General Conscription Organization in central Tehran. The demonstration was forcibly dispersed and the person who led it was arrested. According to opposition Iranian media, the public anger is great because of forced conscription.
Iran International, an English language network, confirmed that the protesters were carrying banners with slogans against compulsory service such as “modern slavery”, “recruits have no vote” and “military service: Mohamed Iskandari, secretary of the so-called Justice Student Movement – the NGO that organized the gathering – was arrested during the demonstrations, which she said are a reflection of the public’s outrage at the brutal nature of Iran’s compulsory military service and its physical and psychological pressure on conscripts, which in some cases leads to suicide or violence. In March, a young conscript began a killing at a barracks in the southern province of Bushehr, killing four of his military colleagues after his request for a leave was denied.
According to the Iranian network, earlier in the year, Iran canceled the plan to fully purchase compulsory military service, just one day after it was reported following widespread criticism from citizens and officials, where only wealthy families can buy military service for their children.
The Iranian constitution stipulates that all men over the age of 18 must serve in the army for about two years, otherwise they will not be able to apply for a passport to leave the country or work. Most of them were recruited into the traditional army, but some who have major connections serve with the Revolutionary Guard where conditions are much better. The network continued that the compulsory military service in Iran is a form of modern slavery due to its major violations of the rights of recruits, forcing them to play off-duty roles and inflicting brutal punishments on them, which made the service in the Iranian street very notorious, unlike the service in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard which depends on military training for individuals and taking into account some of their human rights.
