Iranian security forces on Friday fired at a group of Kurdish men, known as kolbars, carrying untaxed goods on their backs, along the border area with the Kurdistan Region and killing one, according to a rights watchdog.
The victim was identified as 25-year-old Rostam Khezri who made his living by transporting various untaxed products on his back in the border area of Baneh, in the Kurdistan province, stated Paris-based Kurdistan Human Rights Network. The rights group also added that the lifeless body of Khezri was taken across the border to the city of Sulaimani in the Kurdistan Region.
Tens of thousands of mostly young men are working in the border areas between Iran, the Kurdistan Region, and Turkey, carrying goods such as cigarettes, electrical appliances, clothes as the their sole source of income.
According to the organization, at least 17 kolbars from the Kurdish areas of western Iran were killed by Iranian security forces, and four more were killed by the Turkish security forces. Another 25 kolbars died from the cold, avalanches, road accidents, drowning and heart attacks.
Despite the large number of killing of the kolbars by the security forces, authorities have failed to launch any meaningful investigation into the killings or to hold anyone accountable.
The UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur Javaid Rehman described the situation of human rights in Iran as “bleak” and “characterized by the most egregious violations and continued impunity.”
“I am alarmed at the targeting of minorities, including through executions, enforced disappearances and arbitrary sentencing of individuals from the Baluch, Kurdish and Ahwazi Arab minorities,” Rehman told the UN Human Rights Council on March 9.
Source » rudaw