Witness: 'I have seen children wielding weapons'

‘War crime’: Amnesty slams Iran’s recruitment of children as young as 12 to Basij militia

Rights group cites eyewitnesses, videos as proof the IRGC has enlisted kids to man checkpoints, says deployment of child soldiers violates UN convention to which Tehran is a party

Amnesty International on Thursday issued a statement warning that Iran’s recruitment of children as young as 12 for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ all-volunteer Basij force amounts to a war crime.

According to Amnesty, the IRGC put out a recruitment call on March 26, dubbed the “Homeland-Defending Combatants for Iran,” which it said was “open to volunteers” aged 12 and up. The call came as the Basij found its checkpoints under attack during the war with the United States and Israel.

Citing eyewitness accounts and its own analysis of video footage, Amnesty said that evidence shows “child soldiers having been deployed” to checkpoints and patrols, some armed with weapons including AK47-style assault rifles.

“As US and Israeli strikes hit thousands of [IRGC] sites, including Basij facilities, across the country, including through drone attacks targeting security patrols and checkpoints, the deployment of child soldiers alongside [IRGC] personnel or in their facilities puts them at grave risk of death and injury,” said Amnesty’s Erika Guevara-Rosas.

“The Iranian authorities are shamelessly encouraging children as young as 12 to join an IRGC-run military campaign, putting them in grave danger and violating international law, which prohibits the recruitment and use of children in the military,” she said.

“Recruiting children under 15 into the armed forces constitutes a war crime,” added the senior human rights lawyer.

The Amnesty report added that, according to official Basij statements, recruits have been assigned to all areas of the IRGC’s “operational and security” tasks, including patrols, checkpoint duties, logistical support, distribution of equipment and supplies, and assisting with food, medical and relief tasks.

The international rights group said it analyzed videos and photos published online since March 21 showing children holding military rifles alongside IRGC personnel at checkpoints and on patrol in the cities of Tehran, Mashad and Kermanshah.

In one case, Amnesty said, it found evidence that an 11-year-old boy named Alireza Jafari was killed while with his Basij-member father at a checkpoint in Tehran on March 29, which the group said showed “the devastating consequences of the presence of children at military objectives.”

According to Amnesty: “Authorities have confirmed that the child was killed ‘while serving’ at a checkpoint following an Israeli drone attack.”

Amnesty added that the boy’s mother told Iranian media after the strike that her husband had reported a “shortage of personnel” at checkpoints in the area, “and took their sons, Alireza Jafari and his younger nine-year-old brother, with him.”

“She added that her husband said Alireza ‘must get prepared for the days ahead’ and that currently, children as young as 15 and 16 commonly take part in checkpoint duties,” it reported.

The Amnesty report also quoted text messages sent by eyewitnesses of child soldiers manning checkpoints in Iran to BBC Persian reporter Ghoncheh Habibiazad.

One such message reads: “[On 25 March in Tehran], I saw a child at a checkpoint near our house… I think he was about 15. He just had the faint beginnings of a moustache. It seemed like he was struggling to breathe from the effort of lifting the gun. He was pointing the gun toward the cars.”

Another message, this time from a witness in Karaj, reads: “Today [on 27 March], I saw a child at a checkpoint. I think he was about 16. His facial hair hadn’t even grown. He was holding a Kalashnikov rifle.”

“I have seen children wielding weapons,” said a separate witness from Rasht. “They wear masks to cover their faces, but it is obvious they are kids. They have not even grown in height… some appear to be 13 years old at most.”

“I keep thinking their brains aren’t developed like adults and they might actually fire randomly. I am both scared of them and feel sad for them,” the witness told the BBC, according to Amnesty.

The use of child soldiers in the Basij force is explicitly outlined in the IRGC’s Recruitment Regulations Law, which specifies that children under 15 can join the militia’s ranks, effectively setting no minimum required age. Moreover, children over 15 are allowed to become “active” members of the force, who receive financial compensation and weapons training to “collaborate with the IRGC in carrying out assigned missions.”

Despite this explicit provision for the use of child soldiers in the Basij’s charter, Amnesty reiterated that “Iran is a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which prohibits recruitment of children under 15.”

“Under customary international humanitarian law, which is legally binding on Iran, conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 into the armed forces or groups, or using them to participate actively in hostilities constitutes a war crime,” Amnesty said.

According to Iran, at least 216 children have been killed in US-Israeli strikes on the country since the war erupted a month ago. The tallies are unverified and do not specify if the children killed were engaged in military activities at the time of their deaths.