ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - At least 20 kolbars were injured by “direct fire” from Iranian security forces at the heights of Nowsud in Kermanshah province near the border with the Kurdistan Region, a human rights watchdog reported on Monday. “Iranian border guards stationed at the Nowsud border in Kermanshah province shot at a group of kolbars with shotguns. The injuries sustained by the kolbars range from stomach, back, head, hand, and foot injuries, and they were subsequently transported to medical centers in Paveh city,” the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said. The watchdog added that the security forces also confiscated the goods being transported by the kolbars. 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. In its annual report on human rights violations in Iran for 2023, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said that a total of 29 kolbars died last year, with at least 19 of them being killed by Iranian border guards. An estimated 33 kolbars lost their lives and 176 others were wounded as a result of direct fire from Iranian forces in 2023, according to data from Hengaw. At least 35 fell victim to natural accidents during that year. Earlier in February, Iranian border guards shot dead a kolbar near the Kurdish city of Baneh.
