ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iranian security forces on Saturday opened fire on a number of kolbars in the border areas of Saqqez in Kurdistan province, killing one, a human rights watchdog reported. “Mansour Mohammadnejad, a 45-year-old kolbar hailing from Saqqez, lost his life due to direct gunfire from the border regiment forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the evening of Saturday,” the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights said. 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. 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. 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. An estimated 33 kolbars lost their lives and 176 others were wounded as a result of direct fire from Iranian forces in 2022, according to data from Hengaw. At least 35 fell victim to natural accidents during that year.
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