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Iran
People walk past election campaign posters in Sanandaj, Iran on June 10, 2021. Photo: Jabar Dastbaz/Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — A human rights monitor documented dozens of violations in Kurdish areas in Iran in the month of June, including honor killings, imprisonment of activists, and targeting of kolbars.
“At least 28 civilians, activists, former political prisoners, and former Kurdish party members were detained,” according to the report from the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Five of the detained were later released.
Five women were killed by their family members in “honour killings” in the Darreh Shahr, Ilam Kermanshah, and Saqqez provinces, according to the report.
The KHRN also reported that 21 kolbars were killed or injured. At least 10 of them were shot by Iranian Turkish, or Iraqi border guards.
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.
An estimated 52 kolbars were killed and 147 injured in 2020, according to data given to Rudaw English by the KHRN. Forty-six of those killed were shot by Iranian or Turkish border guards.
"Iran's border guards continued to unlawfully shoot scores of unarmed Kurdish kolbars who work under cruel and inhumane conditions, as cross-border porters between the Kurdistan regions of Iran and Iraq, killing at least 40 men and injuring dozens of others," Amnesty International, said in its latest annual report.
KHRN also reported a deadly clash between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), a group closely associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), near the cities of Baneh and Sarvabad in June. Four PJAK members were killed.
Iranian media had reported five Kurdish opposition fighters were killed and three injured in the clash.
“At least 28 civilians, activists, former political prisoners, and former Kurdish party members were detained,” according to the report from the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).
Five of the detained were later released.
Five women were killed by their family members in “honour killings” in the Darreh Shahr, Ilam Kermanshah, and Saqqez provinces, according to the report.
The KHRN also reported that 21 kolbars were killed or injured. At least 10 of them were shot by Iranian Turkish, or Iraqi border guards.
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.
An estimated 52 kolbars were killed and 147 injured in 2020, according to data given to Rudaw English by the KHRN. Forty-six of those killed were shot by Iranian or Turkish border guards.
"Iran's border guards continued to unlawfully shoot scores of unarmed Kurdish kolbars who work under cruel and inhumane conditions, as cross-border porters between the Kurdistan regions of Iran and Iraq, killing at least 40 men and injuring dozens of others," Amnesty International, said in its latest annual report.
KHRN also reported a deadly clash between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), a group closely associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), near the cities of Baneh and Sarvabad in June. Four PJAK members were killed.
Iranian media had reported five Kurdish opposition fighters were killed and three injured in the clash.
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