According to reports received by Avatoday, on Thursday, September 25, Qasem Azizi, a 47-year-old Kurdish Kolbar and father of two, was killed by direct fire from Iran’s border guards.
Eyewitnesses said that Azizi and several other Kolbars abandoned their loads in the mountains after spotting border forces and were then detained by guards from the “Surkio” outpost in Baneh, Sanandaj province.
After some time, the guards told the men they were free to leave, but as the group was walking away, shots were fired at them from about 50 meters away. One bullet struck Azizi in the left shoulder, killing him instantly.
Kolbars in Iranian Kurdistan are men and women who risk their lives carrying heavy goods across dangerous mountain paths, driven by poverty, unemployment, and the lack of economic opportunities in the border regions.
According to Avatoday’s archives, at least 339 Kolbars were killed or injured in 2024 alone, most by direct fire from Iranian forces.
Human Rights Watch has also documented that between 2011 and 2024, some 2,463 Kolbars in Kurdistan provinces were killed or wounded.
These figures highlight a systematic pattern in which Iranian security forces repeatedly use live fire against impoverished Kurdish workers — without accountability, investigation, or punishment.
