“If you shoot at close range, you can kill.” In a rare interview, a member of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force told the FRANCE 24 Observers team that members of his unit were firing shotguns at protesters’ chests and heads, aiming to kill them. While shotguns firing special ammunition can be considered “less-lethal” weapons – less deadly than military rifles like Kalashnikovs – they should never be used for crowd control at close range, experts say.
