Wednesday, July 27, 2005
An Iranian group is openly advertising for suicide volunteers again (see here and here for previous examples):
BBC: Iran body seeks suicide 'martyrs'
It is published by an institute managed by one of Iran's most conservative and radical clerics, Ayatollah Masbah Yazdi, who has declared his support for Iran's new President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.
The advertisement calls for men and women to enlist with the "Martyrdom Lovers' Headquarters".
It says the idea is to achieve "all-out readiness" against the enemies of Islam - and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Those who are picked will be specially trained for their missions in different divisions in every province.
To apply, all that is needed are photographs, a form and a copy of a birth certificate.
Worry not, though, the BBC assures us they don't really mean it, because, after all, Iranians would never really be involved in something like this:
Several people have signed up with different organisations to defend the holy shrines in Iraq and the rights of Palestinians.
But in practice, their pledges are merely symbolic and it is highly unlikely that they would actually go on suicide missions...
If memory serves me, this is the same Iran that used pre-teen boys as human mine sweepers during the Iran-Iraq war. Glad to see that murder and suicide are now voluntary, rather than forced. Does this mean the Mullahs are mellowing?
Heh. That's one way of looking at it.