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The Basij ("Mobilization") is a paramilitary volunteer militia that was formed in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran after the Iranian Revolution. Most of the troops in Basij are young people who sought official benefits (such as reserved spots in universities, exemption from 21-month military service, in exchange for their service, and they served in law enforcement, internal security, social service, and the organization of public religious ceremonies. The Basij was used as a "morality police" as well, and they enforced the wearing of the hijab by women, arrested women if they violated the dress code, prohibited fraternization between men and women, monitored the activities of citizens, confiscated satellite dishes (to prevent people from watching foreign news) and "obscene" material, gathered intelligence, harassed government critics and intellectuals, were used for blogging and filtering issident websites, trained to sniff alcohol and perfume on drivers and women in cars, put down protests, and acted as bailiffs for local courts. In addition, the Basij patrolled the border with Iraq and were deployed against goods smugglers and drug traffickers. Basij was not entirely a military unit, as only 25% of its employees carried AK-47s; the rest of them were equipped with smaller weapons or none at all, and they were simply policemen or policewomen. By 25 November 2015, the Basij had a strength of 23,800,000, which was 31% of the population of Iran, effectively turning Iran into a police state.
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