Error occured during this request! Please try again later.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A human rights monitor documented dozens of violations in Kurdish areas in Iran in the month of July, including femicide, the imprisonment of activists, executions, and the targeting of kolbars.
“More than 100 civilians, activists, university students, lawyers, and former Kurdish political party members were detained in various cities across Iranian Kurdistan throughout the past month. However, the KHRN has, so far, received information about 43 of these people,” read the monthly report by the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
According to the monitor, the majority of those detained were during protests against water shortages in Khuzestan province.
The rights monitor reported four cases of femicide in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province and Sardasht, Western Azerbaijan province.
KHRN also documented at least three kolbars shot dead by Iranian border guards and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in July.
“Iranian border forces shot and injured eight kolbars and injured five others through torture. Three other kolbars were tortured by Iranian police,” the report added.
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 are pushed into the profession by poverty and a lack of alternative employment, particularly in Iran's Kurdish provinces.
In its latest report on the human rights situation in Iran, the United Nations raised concern over the “excessive use of force” against kolbars.
“Reports estimate that around 70,000 Iranians, mostly of the Kurdish minority, depend on being a kolbar for sustenance, including women, many of them women heads of household,” the report read.
According to the UN, approximately 60 kolbars, including children, were killed and more than 170 injured in 2020.
KHRN also reported a deadly clash between the IRGC and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), near the Elmabad village of Bukan on July 24.
Established in 2003, PJAK is considered the Iranian wing of the PKK, but PJAK claims it is linked only by shared ideology.
“More than 100 civilians, activists, university students, lawyers, and former Kurdish political party members were detained in various cities across Iranian Kurdistan throughout the past month. However, the KHRN has, so far, received information about 43 of these people,” read the monthly report by the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
According to the monitor, the majority of those detained were during protests against water shortages in Khuzestan province.
The rights monitor reported four cases of femicide in Sanandaj, Kurdistan province and Sardasht, Western Azerbaijan province.
KHRN also documented at least three kolbars shot dead by Iranian border guards and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in July.
“Iranian border forces shot and injured eight kolbars and injured five others through torture. Three other kolbars were tortured by Iranian police,” the report added.
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 are pushed into the profession by poverty and a lack of alternative employment, particularly in Iran's Kurdish provinces.
In its latest report on the human rights situation in Iran, the United Nations raised concern over the “excessive use of force” against kolbars.
“Reports estimate that around 70,000 Iranians, mostly of the Kurdish minority, depend on being a kolbar for sustenance, including women, many of them women heads of household,” the report read.
According to the UN, approximately 60 kolbars, including children, were killed and more than 170 injured in 2020.
KHRN also reported a deadly clash between the IRGC and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), near the Elmabad village of Bukan on July 24.
Established in 2003, PJAK is considered the Iranian wing of the PKK, but PJAK claims it is linked only by shared ideology.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment