Young Kolbar Shot Dead by Iranian Border Forces

Border forces of the Islamic Republic have shot dead a young kolbar in the western Kurdistan province amid an escalation of violence against the transborder porters. 

Saivan Dastafkan, a 35-year-old kolbar from Marivan, was shot and killed in the Gardaneh-ye Tah Tah heights of Sarvabad county, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. 

Hengaw reported that border guards opened fire without warning and at a close range on a group of Kolbars on Wednesday, April 17. 

This resulted in the death of Dastafkan, who was a married man with one child.

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

According to the Kolbar News website, a total of 85 kolbars lost their lives while transporting goods in the western provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah between March and September 2023.

The causes of their death include direct fire by the military forces, blizzards, cold weather, and falls from mountains and heights.