Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (LEF Special Units)
"The Special Units of Iran’s Law Enforcement Forces (LEF Special Units) are the dedicated crowd control and protest suppression unit of Iran’s LEF, one of the Government of Iran’s main security apparatuses that played a key role in the crackdown on protesters in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian presidential election in 2009. Serious human rights abuses against prisoners detained in the post-election protests also occurred at a detention facility run by the LEF. Treasury designated the LEF pursuant to E.O. 13553 on June 9, 2011, for its role in the post-election crackdown. The LEF Special Units were also involved in the post-election protest suppression in 2009 and have been called upon to forcefully put down multiple nationwide protests since then, including the November 2019 protests resulting from gasoline price increases, during which Iranian security forces killed hundreds of Iranian protestors. The LEF Special Units were one of the main security forces on the ground in November 2019, alongside units of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Iran’s Basij Resistance Force (Basij), a paramilitary force subordinate to the IRGC. In multiple locations throughout Iran, LEF Special Units forces, along with those of a subunit, Iran’s Counter-Terror Special Forces (NOPO), used excessive and lethal force, firing upon unarmed protestors, including women and children, with automatic weapons." 1
Source: