On Sunday, October 18, a Kurdish border porter –known as Kolbar- named Omid Shams was killed during a shooting by Iranian border guards in the border areas of Chaldoran in West Azerbaijan Province.
After transferring the body of this Kurdish civilian to Mako Forensic Medicine, his family had to pay two million tomans [for the bullet used by the guard’s to kill him] for the release of his body.
Amin Shams, a 27-year-old resident of Mako Keshmashtepe village, was the father of two children one of whom is only 20 days old.
A source close to Kolber’s family, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that “at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, October 17, the Border guards stationed at the 90 Chaldoran checkpoint fired at a group of Kolbars from close range without warning, as a result of which Amin Shams was killed by three bullets on the spot.”
According to the source, the Border guards confiscated his cigarette cargo after killing him and forced several people to move his body to valleys farther from the checkpoint.
A video of Shams body has also been posted on social media, in which locals confirm how he was killed when carrying a cigarette cargp and his body was moved to another location.
he family of this Kolbar has paid two million tomans as bullet money for the release of his body, the source added.
“In recent years, a large number of people in the region have turned to Kolbari due to rising unemployment rate.”, the source concluded. Moreover, the forces of the Border Regiment easily kill the Kolbars by relying on the permission given by the authorities to shoot without the fear of prosecution. In some cases, the crime is so serious that the bodies of the deceased Kolbars are disrespected by these forces.”
According to statistics compiled by KHRN, since the beginning of October this year, two Kolbars have been killed by the Border Regiment in the border areas of Chaldoran and Baneh while at least 10 other Kolbars and Kurdish tradesmen were wounded in the border areas of Sardasht, West Azerbaijan Province, Horaman Province. Kermanshah and Baneh in Kurdistan Province. It is noteworthy that a Saqqez businessman named Hiva Vakili had an accident in police chase and lost his life.
