Rasoul Molani was hit in his left leg when Iranian border guards opened fire on him and a group of kolbars in the Barvish Kani border area of Baneh on Wednesday, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported on Friday.
Molani is currently at Salah al-Din Ayubi hospital in Baneh, and his injury is serious, according to KHRN founder Rebin Rahmani.
“His wounds are deep and several sources have told us that he is at risk for amputation, while another source told us that his leg has already been amputated. It is not certain, but we know that his wound is serious,” Rahmani told Rudaw English.
Kolbars are semi-legal porters who transport untaxed goods across the Kurdistan Region-Iran border and sometimes the Iran-Turkey border, crossing the mountainous frontier, carrying heavy loads on their backs. 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 “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.
On Monday, a group of kolbars were shot at from a close range by border guards in Baneh’s Hangazhal area, killing one and injuring five others.
A representative of Baneh city council Aboubakir Darvishi on Wednesday confirmed the incident to the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA). “This happened on Monday, 26 July, but unfortunately I do not know the details of the incident. I do not even know how old these people were,” he said.
Earlier this month, video footage sent to KHRN showed a group of five kolbars beaten up by Iranian border guards.
At least 21 kolbars were “either killed, lost their lives, or injured” on the border areas in June, the KHRN said in its latest monthly report, adding that of those at least 10 were shot by Iranian, Turkish, or Iraqi border forces.
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.
