Death at the Afghan-Iranian Border

An Iranian citizen journalist, who writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity, wrote the following article on the ground inside Iran.

 

Bashir and some of the boys in his neighborhood set out to sneak into Iran, but tragedy soon struck. “Iranian guards fired shots over the top of the car, with four of my friends inside. The car overturned and my friends and seven others were killed,” he said. He has never been able to forget this painful memory.

At the time Bashir knew nothing about illegal travel across borders. His family and the families of his friends decided to send the boys to Iran to find work and send money back to support their families. There were more than 14 of them, all from the same neighborhood. Five of the children were the same age as Bashir, and they were all put in the care of human traffickers. “It was three in the afternoon when they loaded us onto a Toyota and started toward the border with Pakistan,” he said. “We were on the road all night and we reached Pakistan’s border around 10 in the morning.” The Afghan human traffickers crammed 32 people in the car and had placed children among them so that they would not fall off the vehicle.

They stayed in Pakistan for nine days. Pakistani traffickers had told them that situation at the border with Iran was not right for crossing and they had to wait for conditions to become favorable. “We were staying on a hill,”  Bashir said. “There were many Afghans there, including whole families. The traffickers brought very little food and water and everybody was hungry.”

After nine days on the hill, they moved by night toward the Iranian border. After 12 hours of walking they crossed the border and entered Iran. Bashir says that their feet were injured and some of his companions were so tired that they had thrown away their bags and their backpacks, keeping only a bit water and a few pieces of dry bread or biscuits. Bashir said he had fallen down out of fatigue, and had been helped to his feet by young men in his group so that he would not be left behind to die of extreme cold or fall prey to wild animals.

 

No Mercy, Not Even for Children

According to Bashir, the traffickers showed no mercy, not even to children, “They treated us like animals,” he said. “If we fell behind they shouted, ‘run faster, you dirty Afghan.’ And if somebody could not walk they would beat and kick him.”

Eventually they reached the outskirts of Iranshahr, a city in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchistan. The traffickers had arranged to transport them in cars. They crammed 15 people into each Peugeot — two on the front seat next to the driver, three behind the front seat on the floor, six on the back seat and four in the trunk. When they reach Iranshahr, the police tried to stop them. “They fired shots over the car,” he says. “They apprehended one of the Peugeots but we got away.”

Bashir and his fellow travelers managed to escape because of their driver’s quick moves, but what they did not know was that something worse was about to happen, and that Bashir’s four friends would die. Two days later, on another road, the car carrying four of his friends ahead of Bashir’s car was again identified by the police as belonging to traffickers. The driver tried to get away but the police fired shots into the air and the car overturned, killing all the passengers.“The car doors were stuck and they pulled out the bodies with difficulty,” said Bashir. “One of them was alive but died in the hospital.”

 

Reneging on Promises

Eventually, after 16 days, Bashir and eight others reached Tehran and the trafficker took them to a house. The trafficker demanded two million tomans ($480) for his expenses, but Bashir had no money with him, so the trafficker would not allow him to leave the house. After three days, some of Bashir’s relatives who live in Tehran agreed to be his guarantor and the trafficker released him. He then worked with his relatives in the construction industry and after four months, paid his debt to the trafficker in full.

In Nimruz, the trafficker had agreed with Bashir and others that he would pay all their expenses until they reached Tehran, including food and water, but this was not what happened. According to Bashir, the moment they entered Pakistan the trafficker demanded money for various expenses. “He took a lot of money,” he said. “He would say, ‘give me this much money so that I can take you from here to there.’ I had to borrow money to give to him. The Pakistani Baluchis who took us from one place to another demanded money separately. And on each route the drivers wanted their own money, too.”

Bashir returned to Afghanistan from Tehran two years ago, but he says he wants to try again. He traveled from the province of Faryab to Nimruz in order to cross into Iran illegally. He cites the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and unemployment as the reasons behind his decision. “Our economy is weak,” he said. “There are no jobs and our district is under the control of the Taliban.” He is the only able-bodied man in a family of 12 and says that he must provide for them all.

“But this time I shall not be fooled by the traffickers,” Bashir said. “God willing, when we start out, I will carry a lot of food and water with me. May God have mercy on us.”

 

Maryam Mousavi, Citizen journalist, Herat, Afghanistan

 

 

Related Coverage:

One Afghan Child’s Story of Crossing the Border, May 9, 2019

Smuggled Afghan Children Working as Street Peddlers, February 20, 2019

The Story of an Afghan Boy Trying to get to Iran, December 14, 2018

Who are the Main Victims of Human Trafficking in Iran?, July 23, 2018

Human Trafficking and Iranian Law, July 21, 2018

Why Is Iran the Chosen Pathway for Human Traffickers?, July 16, 2018

Child Trafficking by the Truckload, July 7, 2018

Wasted Youth: The Hidden Trash Collectors of Tehran, December 2, 2014