ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran executed at least 12 prisoners from the country’s western Kurdish region (Rojhelat) in the month of June, reported a human rights monitor on Saturday, adding that over 60 Kurds were detained during the month as well. In their monthly report on human rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish areas, the Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) said that at least 12 prisoners were executed by Iran in June: Eight for premeditated murder, three for drug-related charges, and one for affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Firuz Musalou, reportedly a former member of the PKK, was executed by Iran on June 20 after being handcuffed and transferred from Urmia central prison to an unknown location the night prior. Iran executed at least 168 people in the first five months of 2022, compared to 110 people in the same period in 2021. The human rights monitor added that at least 61 Kurds were detained by Iranian forces during the month, five of which received prison sentences. The detainees included at least 39 activists of the teachers’ union, according to the report. The report also mentioned that Iranian border guards in June killed at least one tradesman from the Kurdistan Region and injured another, while also wounding at least 13 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 also victims of natural disasters. Many are pushed into the profession by poverty and a lack of alternative employment, particularly in Iran's disenfranchised Kurdish provinces. The statistics for May by the same monitor reported at least one kolbar killed and 14 injured by Iranian border guards, in addition to at least 19 people detained by the security forces.
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