Parliament Representative Reports 166 Porters Killed and Injured in One Year

The Mahabad representative in parliament, criticizing the shooting of porters, says nearly 14 of them are killed and injured each month. He accused the Rouhani government of closing two officially designated routes for portering in 2017 and 2018.

Jalal Mahmoudzadeh says that when the government shuts down a profession, it should define an alternative profession for it, but it has not done so, forcing porters to turn to unofficial border routes for their livelihood.

According to Shaghgena news website on Monday, September 21, quoting the Mahabad representative in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, these unofficial routes are usually controlled by law enforcement and border guards who sometimes shoot at porters.

Mahmoudzadeh says the government was expected to designate official routes for cargo transportation in border areas so porters could use motorized vehicles and cars to transport loads, but not only was this not done, but the routes that were officially designated in 2017 and 2018 were also closed.

Stating that in the past year 166 porters have been killed and injured by gunfire from officials, he said: “These porters are young Iranians and children of this border region, and it is unfair that young Iranians are killed with Iranian bullets and their families are displaced. This has consequences and is not in the interest of the system from a security perspective.”

At dawn on September 3, three young porters in the border area of Sardasht near the Iraq border were shot by border guards of West Azerbaijan province and lost their lives.

Amanuallah Hoseinpour, representative of Sardasht and Piranshahr, two days after this incident in a letter to President Hassan Rouhani asked him: “Why should defenseless and oppressed young people in Kurdish areas have to porter for a piece of bread and be killed? Unfortunately, your government has not only failed to create jobs, but has closed official bazaars and official portering routes and transferred production workshops to central and affluent areas.”

Note to the Interior Minister

Hoseinpour the next day in a written note to Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli requested that experts from the ministry be sent to the region to organize official borders, bazaars, and official portering routes while dealing with those responsible for incidents such as the killing of porters.

Portering is one of the most difficult and dangerous occupations, with thousands of people in western provinces of Iran engaged in it due to unemployment and lack of jobs to make a living for themselves and their families.

Falling off cliffs, drowning in rivers, freezing in snow and blizzards, being caught in avalanches and landslides, stepping on mines left over from the Iran-Iraq War, and finally being shot by border guards are among the dangers that threaten the lives and health of porters.

In most cases, border guards describe injured and killed porters as smugglers or members of “counter-revolutionary” groups. Othman Mezine, a lawyer and attorney, says portering is not a profession and openly leads to human degradation, “but this undesirable profession has been imposed on the people of these border and Kurdish regions due to the absence of employment conditions.”

“Why Are Porters Being Killed Instead of Arrested?”

He recently told the Ravadad24 website: “In the laws of portering, crime, punishment, and execution are not listed as penalties for engaging in it, so a law enforcement officer has no right to take people’s lives without a final ruling from the competent judicial authority. Of course, as far as I know, no officer has been questioned or summoned so far for shooting at porters; this means some are giving themselves the right to openly consider porters deserving of death.”

Most lawyers and human rights activists have repeatedly emphasized that even if some porters are involved in smuggling, direct shooting at them, instead of arresting them and referring them to the judicial system to prove their crime, is not justifiable.

The representative of Sardasht and Piranshahr in parliament, in reaction to the death of three porters in this area, said: “My words are to the president, the border forces commander, and the governor of West Azerbaijan that if a person has committed an offense or even smuggled, they should be dealt with legally, such a person should be arrested and tried. Why are they being killed?”

So far, neither officials have given a clear and convincing answer to this question and similar ones, nor has the government fulfilled its duty to create employment and organize and support porters.

Source: DW