35-year-old Saiwan Dastafkan from Marivan lost his life after Iranian border guards opened fire on the group of kolbars he part of in the Tata mountain range, according to Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. The guards fired from a close range and without any warning, the rights monitor added.
Dastafkan’s body was handed over to his family after protesters gathered in front of Marivan’s Bu Ali hospital on Wednesday evening, demanding the return of the body to the victim’s relatives.
He was laid to rest on Thursday morning. He is survived by his wife and child.
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 impoverished Kurdish provinces.
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.
