A porter was killed and another was wounded as a result of the border guards shooting near the village of Hongjal. It was also reported that a 35-year-old porter from Somaye Bradost in Orumiyeh area died by an avalanche.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, today, December 14th, 2018, two border porters named Rahman Ketabi, 45 years old from the village of Nunur, and Muhammad Maroofi, 23 years old and from the village of Yaji, were killed after the firing of Border guards.
On the other hand, Maf News reported that on Wednesday, December 12th, 2018, a porter named Javad Golbai, 35 years old and son of Sabri, a resident of Malone village, was killed from an avalanche.
Porters are people who, due to lack of employment and extensive economic problems in the border regions, are forced to transport goods from Iran to Iraq and vice versa using informal customs entry with a very low wage. Goods that are transported from Iran to the other side of the border by porters include fuel such as gasoline, dried fruits, and some domestic products. The most common items porters transfer to Iran are home appliances, including televisions, refrigerators, and some other foreign goods.
Being a porter is one of the most dangerous jobs because of the state of the transfer of goods by smuggling porters. Porters are not the owners of a commodity, nor are they part of the profit of its import or export. They are day-wage workers who carry goods on their own for wages.
Border troops’ direct shots, mine blasts, falling off of mountains, avalanches, frost, floods, and other natural disasters are the dangers that threaten porters.
Full and accurate information on the Porters have not released by the responsible authorities, but according to Rasul Khezri, the representative of Sardasht in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, “In the Sardasht and Piranshahr region, 8,000-10,000 people work as porters for their livelihoods.” Three provinces, Kurdistan, Kermanshah and West Azerbaijan in the border line of Iran with Iraq and Turkey are the main area of porters’ activities.