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Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
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Iranian Security Forces Kill More Cross-Border Couriers

Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)
Kulbars carry goods on their backs along the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border (Mehr)

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.

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Super Typhoon Yagi Roars into China’s Hainan, Disrupting Lives of Millions

In this image released by Xinhua News Agency, workers cut redundant branches off of trees along a street ahead of the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)
In this image released by Xinhua News Agency, workers cut redundant branches off of trees along a street ahead of the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)
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Super Typhoon Yagi Roars into China’s Hainan, Disrupting Lives of Millions

In this image released by Xinhua News Agency, workers cut redundant branches off of trees along a street ahead of the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)
In this image released by Xinhua News Agency, workers cut redundant branches off of trees along a street ahead of the landfall of typhoon Yagi in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP)

Asia's strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, landed in China's Hainan on Friday, bringing violent gales and heavy rain that triggered widespread power outages, paralyzing the tourist island province known as "China's Hawaii".

Packing maximum sustained winds of 234 km per hour (145 mph) near its center, Yagi registers as the world's second-most powerful tropical cyclone in 2024 so far, after the Category 5 Atlantic hurricane Beryl, and the most severe in the Pacific basin this year.

After more than doubling in strength since killing 16 people in the northern Philippines earlier this week, Yagi slammed into the city of Wenchang in Hainan on Friday afternoon.

A little more than an hour after Yagi's arrival, Hainan saw power outages that affected 830,000 households in the province, the official news agency Xinhua said.

The provincial power supply department had put together a 7,000-member emergency team that would embark on repairs as soon as conditions permitted, Xinhua added.

By Friday night, power to 260,000 households had been restored.

Ahead of Yagi's arrival, the island known for its sandy beaches and glitzy hotels had cancelled flights and ferries, shuttered businesses, and told its population of more than 10 million to refrain from going out.

The typhoon had already shut schools, businesses and transport links in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province as well as airports in Vietnam, which it is predicted to hit, along with Laos, over the weekend.

On Friday night, Yagi crossed Qiongzhou Strait north of Hainan and made its second landfall in Guangdong with winds still exceeding 200 kph.

In Guangdong, more than 574,500 people had been evacuated from areas at risk by noon, more than two-thirds of them from the city of Zhanjiang.

In the financial hub of Hong Kong, the stock exchange was shuttered while schools remained closed.

Hong Kong's airport authority said operations had largely returned to normal after 50 flights were cancelled on Thursday, and the city of over 7 million people also lowered its typhoon warning by a notch after midday, as Yagi moved west towards Vietnam.

The world's longest sea crossing, the main bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai in Guangdong, also reopened on Friday afternoon after being shut since Thursday.

However, intense rainbands associated with Yagi will still bring heavy squally showers to the territory. Neighboring Shenzhen issued the highest alert for rains.

RARE LANDFALL

Yagi is the most severe storm to land in Hainan since 2014, when Typhoon Rammasun slammed into the island province as a Category Five tropical cyclone. Rammasun killed 88 people in Hainan, Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan and caused economic losses of more than 44 billion yuan ($6.25 billion).

"The typhoon has not been as severe as initially feared and has so far caused minimal damage as the typhoon made landfall in Hainan (and not Guangdong)," said Qizhao, a banana farmer at the village of Gaozhou, who was initially worried Yagi could destroy months of hard work.

He said villagers had been reinforcing their trees with poles to protect them from the wind.

Still, Qizhao was not letting his guard down until after the typhoon has passed.

Formed over the warm seas east of the Philippines and following a similar path to Rammasun, Yagi arrived in China as a Category Four typhoon, ushering in winds strong enough to overturn vehicles, uproot trees and severely damage roads, bridges and buildings.

Its landfall in Hainan is rare, as most typhoons landing on the duty-free island are classified as weak. From 1949 to 2023, 106 typhoons landed in Hainan but only nine were classified as super typhoons.

No fatalities have been reported so far in Hainan.

Typhoons are becoming stronger, fueled by warmer oceans, amid climate change, scientists say. Last week, Typhoon Shanshan slammed into southwestern Japan, the strongest storm to hit the country in decades.

Yagi is named after the Japanese word for goat and the constellation of Capricornus, a mythical creature that is half goat, half fish.