One Kolbar shot dead in Hawraman Takht, another injured: human rights group

ERBIL, Kurdistan Regional — A Kurdish Kolbar was killed and another wounded when the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) opened fire on them on Wednesday, west of Iran’s Kurdistan province.

Fahmin Rostamzadeh, 40, the father of three children was from the border city of Hawraman Takht (Uraman Takht) of the Kurdistan province of Iran and lived in Mariwan. The group of Kolbars were shot at by IRGC soldiers “from a close range and without prior warning” early Wednesday morning, Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported.

The shooting resulted in Rostamzadeh's death, and another kolbar was injured.

"Rostamzadeh wasn't carrying any goods when the bullet struck his pelvis. After the Kolbar suffered a wound, IRGC forces prevented him from being rescued by the other Kolbars. The Kolbar died of severe bleeding after being transferred to Marivan (Mariwan) Hospital,” a source from Hawraman told KHRN.

Rebin Rahmani, the founder of KHRN told Rudaw English that the injured kolbar has been hospitalized and is now in stable condition.

The incident comes just days after another kolbar was shot dead by Iranian security forces in Baneh.

Another Kolbar died at Iran’s Kermanshah province on Friday after remaining in a coma for five days due to a bullet in his head from Iranian 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.

Families of kolbars are among the main victims of these attacks by Iranian border guards, as the transport of goods is their primary source of income, and Iranian forces at times raid their houses and confiscate their goods.

Amnesty International addressed the brutal treatment kolbars face in their 2020 human rights report released in April.  

“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,” the human rights watchdog said, sourcing Kurdish human rights organizations.

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.

The KHRN in their monthly report said that three kolbars had lost their lives in border areas in May while 10 were wounded.