Tehran, Iran, Apr. 16 – An armed gang killed a member of Iran’s para-military Bassij force, the semi-official daily Kayhan reported on Saturday. The report said that the Bassij agent, identified as Gholam-Reza Zabouni, was killed during a shootout with “armed robbers” in the Iranian capital.The Bassij, affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), are Islamist vigilantes loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In 2005, following hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s rise to the presidency, they were given powers to act as the country’s back-up police force.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on bogus charges, such as armed robbery and drug smuggling.