Horses That Were Executed Alongside Me

They say there is no other business in the region. They say they can only earn a living by carrying heavy loads on their backs and spines. If they are very lucky, they buy a horse or a riding animal that becomes a member of their family. Horses, donkeys, or mules that carry heavier loads; rolls of fabric, boxes of household goods, heavy televisions, carpets, and fuel gallons that the porters cannot carry across the common border between Iran and Iraqi Kurdistan. They say they are traders. They are porters, earning their living by traversing the mountains with loads sometimes heavier than themselves, but the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran consider them smugglers. They say they are unemployed, empty-handed, hungry, and forced, but the officials say they are not allowed to cross the treacherous border mountains. Their share, if not landmines, is the bullets of border guards. But the bullets do not just kill or incapacitate them. The Kurds of the regions of Sardasht, Piranshahr, Mahabad, Boukan, and Baneh say their pain is that the border guards kill one of their loved ones right in front of their eyes; either they execute them or they are collectively shot. Loved ones who have become part of their family, support several households, are companions, and sometimes become victims of landmines and borders instead of them. In this special program, we hear about a topic that is part of the nightmare of traders and porters in the border area between Iran and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Horses, mules, donkeys, and pack animals that are either executed, shot, or die of hunger and thirst in holding areas. In this program, Kaiko, a porter in the region, shares his experiences, and we also hear from Kurdish human rights activists, journalists, filmmakers, and lawyers who talk about the deaths and killings of these animals at the western borders of Iran.