Human rights organization: 52 Kolbars killed in Iran in the past year
A human rights organization announced in its annual report on human rights violations in the Kurdish regions of Iran that at least 163 kolbars and traders were injured and 52 were killed in these areas during 2021.
The website "Hengao", which provides news and reports on human rights violations in the Kurdish regions of Iran, reported on Friday, January 1, that four of the kolbars who were killed and two of the injured were "under the age of 18."
According to this report, over the past twelve months, "140 direct shots have been fired at these kolbars, of which "134 were by Iranian armed forces" and "six were by Turkish and Iraqi armed forces."
According to numerous reports, border guards in Iran have repeatedly targeted kolbars with deadly shootings. A number of residents of Iran's border provinces have turned to kolbars due to poor economic conditions.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on October 6 that bringing goods in the form of boats or kolbars is not a "problem" and that intelligence departments must identify "mafia flows," "hands behind the scenes," and "organized smuggling."
The Hengau report also noted the execution of 38 Kurdish citizens in Iran over the past year. In addition to the execution of political prisoner Heydar Ghorbani, the death sentences of a woman and a defendant who “was sentenced to death as a teenager” have also been carried out, as well as the death sentences in “31 cases of premeditated murder and 16 people for drug-related crimes.”
Source: Voice of America
