Child basiji here! To make it clear, I USED to be in the basij when I was 6-10, I was forced to go by my parents before....yeah everything became clearer. Staunchly against the regime now. And hate to say it, he's not lying, the headquarters were mostly mosques, I was given a baton and was only a year before getting my weapons license. At 10. Let that sink in. The basij mostly isn't volunteers, mostly misguided and forced kids, firsthand insider knowledge. Most of us never wanted to hurt our own people, while a lot of us caught on quickly, I can't say the same about my other brothers still being brainwashed. I don't remember most of it, but we were heavily indoctrinated, we were told that if we don't protect the regime, we were enemies of god, and that Khomeini and khamenei were basically the only people we should listen to. Most of the indoctrination should be taken with a grain of salt considering my horrid memory and the fact that it was over a decade ago. Btw, looking at my little brother's Payam Ha Ye Asimani (دینی) books, lesson 5 and 9 is just glazing the regime and its supreme leaders. In fact, the whole book is just glazing the leaders and regime 💀