Tehran — In the Iranian protests over 218 protestors are dead and 4,523 have been arrested so far, an Interior Ministry source confirmed on Monday afternoon.
The figures are fluctuating as they are based on reports sent to the Interior ministry by provincial and city governors, and it’s expected that the figures may go high.
A source claimed that Brigadier General Gholam Hossein Gheybparvar who is acting commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Central Imam Ali Security Garrison received permission from the higher bodies to order indiscriminately that is “fire at will”.
After the 2009 presidential elections in Iran, Imam Ali Battalions were formed under the command of Central Imam Ali Security Garrison, which is tasked to confront and suppress to kill and crackdown anti-Regime protests.
IranWire states that, “the battalions form part of the paramilitary Basij Organization, which functions under the umbrella of the Revolutionary Guards. According to Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the former commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guards, approximately 31,000 Basijis have been trained as members of the battalions.”
