ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least one kolbar was killed by “direct fire” from Iranian security forces at the heights of Nowsud in Iran’s Kermanshah province near the border with the Kurdistan Region, a human rights watchdog reported on Monday.
“A kolbar named Salas Babajani was killed by direct fire from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s border troops stationed at the Nowsud border,” the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said.
The watchdog added that four other kolbars were also injured by security forces.
Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport untaxed goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border and sometimes the Iran-Turkey border. They are constantly targeted by Iranian border guards and are sometimes victims of natural disasters.
Many kolbars are pushed into the profession by poverty and a lack of alternative employment, particularly in Iran's Kurdish provinces. Families of kolbars greatly suffer from attacks by Iranian border guards, as the transport of goods is often the household’s primary source of income.
At least eight kolbars were killed by Iranian security forces in the month of May, according to Hengaw. The fatality count doubled that of April, during which four kolbars lost their lives.
In its annual report on human rights violations in Iran for 2023, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network said that a total of 29 kolbars died last year. At least 19 of them were killed by Iranian border guards.
Hengaw estimated 33 kolbars lost their lives and 176 others were wounded as a result of direct fire from Iranian forces in 2023 and at least 35 fell victim to accidents.
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