Iran 'using child soldiers' to suppress Tehran protests

[nalnn]

Source: guardian.co.uk

Iran's Islamic regime is using "child soldiers" to suppress anti-government demonstrations, a tactic that could breach international law forbidding the use of underage combatants, human rights activists have told the Observer.

The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran says troops aged between 14 and 16 have been armed with batons, clubs and air guns and ordered to attack demonstrators who have tried to gather in Tehran. The youths – apparently recruited from rural areas – are being deployed in regular riot police roles and comprise up to one-third of the total force, according to witnesses.

One middle-aged woman, who said she was attacked by the youths, reported that some were 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 said.

Some told her they had been attracted by the promise of chelo kebab dinners, one of Iran's national dishes.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/13/iran-child-soldiers-tehran-protests

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"Armed children as young as 14 are said to have been deployed alongside riot police"

dis-gust-ing

[pam4water]

1. Didn't Iran use child soldiers in the Iran Iraq ware?

[msongs]

2. NATO prefers to kill kids instead of hiring them. not much better nt

[dipsydoodle]

3. ditto

:(

[Rebubula]

6. Iran is doing both...

I doubt NATO is purposely targeting kids - Iran IS purposely sending kids in to kill people.

[WatsonT]

10. +1

[somone]

4. Just like the good old days

In 1984, Iranian President Ali-Akbar Rafsanjani said, "all Iranians from 12 to 72 should volunteer for the Holy War." The child soldiers wore keys around their necks to signify their coming entrance into heaven. Ettelaat, an Iranian daily, reported, "Before entering the minefields, the children wrap themselves in blankets and they roll on the ground, so that their body parts stay together after the explosion of the mines and one can carry them to the graves."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_use_of_children

[nalnn]

5. That's terrible

:scared:

[Alamuti Lotus]

8. but Rafsanjani is a member of the "opposition" now

While spinning around in the way-back machine, check out Mousavi's great work during the time period--it puts his "Green Movement"/"reform" attitude now in a much different light (for all the hype, Ahmadinejad looks good by comparison).

[WatsonT]

11. But the US/NATO is just as bad because . . .

well whatever, we are.

:sarcasm:

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[happyslug]

9. Child Soldiers? Where is the Combat????

Iran is treating the opposition as civilians, i.e. no one is shooting them. These "teen soldiers" are being armed with "batons, clubs and air guns" these are NOT military weapons, but riot control weapons. These teens are being used a POLICE not Soldiers and as such NOT a violation of any International law. Even the US can (And has) used teenagers in riot control situations (During the 1920s floods, Boy Scouts were armed with rifles to make sure African Americans would work on the levies, while it was officially denied that the scouts had orders to shoot to kill any African American who left the levies, that was the understanding the African Americans forces to work on those levies had).

Armed boy scouts "guarding" an African American relief camp during the 1927 Mississippi River Flood:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~copyrght/image/solstice/win98/review.htm

Sorry, there is NO international rule that prevents teens from performing Police duties, including riot control.

[nalnn]

12. There is no rule...

There should be. I think it's horrible. I wonder what it did to those Boy Scouts. I wonder what it will do to these children.