With a presence in nearly every city and town across Iran, the paramilitary Basij volunteer corps has an ever-increasing influence on life in the Islamic Republic. Authorities created the Basij, which means mobilization in Persian, just after the country's 1979 Islamic Republic. It is part of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Photo: In this Thursday, August 22, 2013 photo, a female member of the Basij paramilitary militia aims a rifle as a trainer looks over her shoulder in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Ebrahim Noroozi/AP Photo)

A woman (L) places flowers at a grave next to a mummified body during exhumation works at the General Cemetery in Guatemala City, April 15, 2015. If a lease on a grave has expired or not been paid, grave cleaners will break open the crypts to remove and rebury the bodies. Any remains that have not been claimed are packed into plastic bags, labeled and stored in mass graves. Bodies that have been stored in the upper crypt are exposed to dry and sunny conditions which means they do not decompose and instead become mummified. (Photo by Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)

Yingluck Shinawatra reaches out to shakes hands with supporters after speaking at a rally during her election campaign June 29, 2011 in Burirum, Thailand. Thais go to the polls on July 3 to vote in a tight race between Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrats and the red shirt followers of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

Christopher Tubbs embraces his wife Sarah after arriving home during the homecoming of the USS Enterprise at the Norfolk Naval Station July 15, 2011 in Norfolk, Virginia. In its 184 days away from Norfolk, the USS Enterprise cruised nearly 60,000 miles while supporting operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Forgotten Guerrero. A female member of the community defence force holds her weapon. Since early 2019, the village has been attacked repeatedly by Los Ardillos cartel, prompting residents to take action. Rincón de Chautla, Guerrero, 10 June 2019. (Photo by Alfredo Bosco/Luz with the support of Le Figaro Magazine, Winner of the 2020 Humanitarian Visa d’or award, International Committee of the Red Cross/International Festival of Photojournalism 2020)

Opposition supporters march in the streets during a demonstration against the Ivorian President running for a third term in the next presidential elections, in Bonoua, Ivory Coast, 21 August 2020. The Ivorian opposition opposes a third term for incumbent president Ouattara who has been in power for ten years. The presidential elections will be held in October 2020. (Photo by Legnan Koula/EPA/EFE)

Zimbabwe University students run away from police during a protest outside the magistrates courts in Harare, Monday, September 14, 2020. Police broke up the protest and arrested some students demonstrating in support of a university union leader who was making a court appearance following his arrest for protesting against human rights abuses in the country. (Photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP Photo)

Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge plays a stroke of golf during a visit to meet young people supported by the Cheesy Waffles Project, a charity for children, young people and adults with additional needs across County Durham, at the Belmont Community Centre, in Durham, north east England on April 27, 2021. (Photo by Andy Commins/Pool via AFP Photo)