Iran Human Rights Campaign: More Kolbars and Fuel Carriers Killed by Deliberate Fire from Islamic Republic Forces

The Iran Human Rights Campaign reported that the number of Kolbars and fuel carriers deliberately targeted by the military forces of the Islamic Republic in border areas of Iran has increased. In its report published on Friday, September 7, it emphasized that in the first eight months of the current year, at least 30 Kolbars were killed by direct gunfire from the military forces of the Islamic Republic, and during the same period, at least 198 Kolbars were injured due to these deliberate shootings. The report notes that at least six of the victims were children. It states that at least 34 fuel carriers were killed by direct gunfire, with 39 others injured, including a 14-year-old child among the deceased. Hadi Ghaemi, the director of the Iran Human Rights Campaign, stated: "The ongoing massacre of Kolbars and fuel carriers in border areas is another example of the Islamic Republic's use of lethal violence against oppressed groups and the most vulnerable socio-economic groups in Iran." The use of firearms against Kolbars and fuel carriers occurs while Article 22 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes: "The dignity, life, property, rights, housing, and occupation of individuals are protected from assault except in cases prescribed by law." The Iran Human Rights Campaign also referred to statistics from the year 1402 (2023), indicating that at least 27 Kolbars, including a 17-year-old child, were killed, and 311 Kolbars were injured due to gunfire. In this year, at least 40 fuel carriers were also killed by military fire, one of whom was a 15-year-old child. During the same period, at least 19 others were injured. Previously, Kolbar News reported that in the year 1402, 444 Kolbars in border areas and inter-road routes of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, and Kermanshah provinces were killed or injured due to factors such as direct gunfire from regime military forces, avalanches, frostbite, stepping on mines, falling from mountains, and other causes. According to Kolbar News, 373 of the injured or deceased from the previous solar year, or 84% of them, were targeted by "direct gunfire" from armed agents of the Islamic Republic. Additionally, 37 of the total 444 Kolbars who were victims in the previous solar year were children under 18. Kolbari and fuel carrying in border areas are due to lack of jobs, poverty, and underdevelopment, which has taken a very harsh form in provinces like Sistan and Baluchestan. However, armed agents of the Islamic Republic, primarily the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have targeted hundreds of Kolbars and Kurdish merchants under the pretext of "fighting against smuggling" over the past decades. In many cases, relevant institutions of the Islamic Republic, in response to complaints and follow-ups from the families of victims, instead of holding the perpetrators of these shootings accountable, promote them and transfer them to other regions of Iran. Two Kolbars were killed last week due to gunfire from the Islamic Republic's border guards. Efforts by medical staff to save the life of Nazem Safari, a Kolbar shot at the Nowsud border, were unsuccessful. Asad Espandar, a 24-year-old Kolbar, was killed by gunfire from Islamic Republic agents. Gunfire from the Revolutionary Guards at a vehicle in Khash resulted in the deaths and injuries of five individuals, including two children. Gunfire from the military forces of the Islamic Republic at Kolbars in western Iran resulted in the death of a Kolbar in Sardasht.