Kurdish Cross-Border Porter Killed in West Iran

Iranian border forces have shot and killed a 20-year-old Kurdish porter, or kolbar, near the Sardab border area in western Kurdistan province.

According to the Kordpa news website, Sivan Sahihi, from the nearby village of Balakeh, died from his injuries after being shot without warning on February 11. 

Kordpa, citing an unnamed source, also reported that Iranian forces detained and tortured two other kolbars in the Hengehjal border region on February 9.

The report said the two men, named Yousef and Farzad, were shot at close range with a shotgun after being arrested. 

The kolbars are porters who haul goods on their backs across the borders of Iran and over long distances, mostly in the impoverished, mountainous Kurdish areas adjacent to Iraq, to make a living.

The authorities label kolbars as "smugglers,” but human rights organizations maintain that their activity is a form of survival for many men living in impoverished border regions where economic opportunities are scarce.

Human rights groups documented 299 deaths and injuries among kolbars in West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces in 2023. 

The causes included direct fire by the military forces, blizzards, cold weather and falls from mountains and heights.