An alarming number of border couriers, primarily from Iran’s Kurdish and Baluchi minorities, have been killed in the first eight months of 2024, as Tehran uses unlawful and lethal force against those who transport goods and fuel across Iranian borders as their only means of survival, said the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) on Thursday.
Headquartered in Washington, CHRI said at least 30 Kurdish border couriers, known as kulbars, were killed and 198 others injured by direct gunfire from Iranian government forces from January to August 2024.
Research undertaken by CHRI also found that six of the injured were children. One of them was 17-year-old Arian Mamandi from Sardasht, who was shot in the face by border guards and lost an eye.
Over the same eight-month period, at least 34 Baluchi fuel couriers, known as sukhtbars, were killed, and 39 others were injured by direct gunfire from government forces, CHRI’s research showed. One of those killed was 14-year-old Omran Baloch Zahi.
“The ongoing killings of border couriers are yet another example of the Islamic Republic’s use of disproportionate and lethal violence against Iran’s oppressed ethnic communities,” said Hadi Ghaemi, CHRI executive director.
“The Iranian government must immediately halt its unlawful use of lethal force against border couriers and instead focus on developing economic empowerment initiatives. This relentless violence against vulnerable populations must end,” Ghaemi said.
In July, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Supporters of Human Rights (CSHR) called on Iranian authorities under the new president to halt their use of excessive and lethal force at the Iran-Iraq border against predominantly Kurdish kulbars (border couriers), who come from marginalized communities.
“It is shameful that our youth have to engage in kulbari [transporting goods across border] for a piece of bread. We must establish a border that facilitates trade, not kulbari,” said Masoud Pezeshkian, the newly elected president of Iran, during his presidential campaign in Sanandaj in June.
