Martyr Recruitment Group Promises Heaven

Bahram Rafiee, Rooz Online:

The Esteshhadiyun group (martyr-seekers) has launched its official website in Iran and invites people to register with it to be available and ready for martyr suicide operations. Until now, hardline fundamentalist internet web sites had promoted the goals of the Esteshhadiyun and their news bulletins. Now, they have their own link facility to their “members”, i.e. those who have signed up and registered to be martyr-seekers. READ MORE

At the conclusion of the "Olive Girls" seminar held a few weeks ago where registration for martyr-seekers in Iran began, the spokesperson of the group announced that about 60,000 individuals had registered as martyrs, in what the group calls the International Islamic Movement, and awaited instructions from it. The internet site of the Esteshhadiyun posts instructions for martyrs’ readiness, and asks for the military involvement of the force in Iraq and to protect Shiite holy shrines. It calls its goal to be the confrontation of infidels and Zionism. It even asks Iranian leaders for their consent to engage in Iraq.

On the on-site application form, the group asks its applicants not to provide regular land telephone numbers but, if they do not have cell-phones, expect to communicate through email. In the past Iranian officials has labeled such “recruitment” or registration exercises as “mere propaganda”. Now with an actual website and a formal registration process, it appears that the issue is more than just a propaganda exercise and is in fact a thought-through organized activity supported by senior and perhaps even leadership politicians in the Iranian regime.

The Esteshhadiyun assert that the justifications for creating the website was the publication of the cartoons in the Danish and other European newspapers that were called insulting by Muslims, and the recent attacks on the Shiite mosque in Iraq. Mohammad Ali Samadi, the spokesperson of the group had recently announced the existence of bill boards in the heart of Tehran to invite martyr-seekers to register with the group. “Registration is not taking place in Tehran alone, but through the country where we have traveled,” he said. He claimed some 53,900 individuals had already signed up. Even the bill boards indicate approval of the work of the group by government officials.

Published figures seem to indicate that the organizers have succeeded in getting more registrations from women than men. In their registration centers, the group displays images of women who are not wearing the traditional Islamic hijab, religious quotations that convey the equality of men and women, and, pictures of Palestinian women martyr-seekers. There are also other billboards in Tehran where Palestinian and other martyr-seeking women are pictures and revered, all of which indicate the special attention that the group pays to women’s registration.

The website of the Esteshhadiyun even quotes religious scripts indicating that it is permissible for Muslim women to forego the hijab for a higher purpose and cause. The website also encourages Iranian women to participate in suicide operations, arguing that permission from their husbands is not necessary in such situations.

Many experts in Iran have raised concerns about the website and its recruitment/registrations, arguing that they are against the country's national and international interests. Some conservative politicians and activists are also concerned that the Esteshhadiyun’s activities are steps to eliminate the Basij (Iran's militia) forces that were formed on ayatollah Khomeini's orders in the early days of the revolution.

A public poll appearing on the Esteshhadiyun website is note worthy as it indicates that 62% of the website visitors categorically opposed any revengeful measures against the Danish publishers of the cartoons that many Muslims believe have been insulting to them.