A recent spate of killings of kolbars in western provinces of Iran has continued. This week yet another man earning a living by transporting goods across the Iran-Iraq border was shot dead by the Revolutionary Guards.
According to Kurdish human rights sources, Mohammad Khalid Abdalahzadeh was killed on the evening of Sunday, September 5. Officers opened fire on him in the heights of the Haji Imran border in Piranshahr, West Azerbaijan province. The 41-year-old is understood to be a father of two whose body has not yet been returned to his family.
The Iranian regime still calls kolbars “smugglers” and border guards regularly shoot at these impoverished citizens of Iran’s border regions while they are in the mountains. In 2020, at least 59 kolbars in western Iran are known to have lost their lives while 181 were injured in the course of their work.
Related coverage:
Two Kolbars Hospitalized After Border Guards Open Fire
Four Iranian Kolbars Shot and Killed in a Fortnight
They Shoot Kolbars, Don't They?: An IranWire Film
Iranian "Kulbar" Workers Shot Without Warning by Border Guards
Women Kulbars: A Deadly Job in a Beautiful Landscape
Imprisoned Editor: Kolbars Signify the Collapse of Iran’s Economy
"Kolbars are the Result of Prejudice": Interview with Jamshid Bahrami
An Anthropologist's Take on the Kolbari Phenomenon
#Don’t_Kill_Kulbars Twitter Storm Takes Over Iranian Cyberspace
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