MESOPOTAMIA NEWS EAST KURDISTAN (IRAN) – INSIGHT FOCUS

• Last week recorded more casualties among the border porters (Kolbars) who transfer goods semi-legally between Iran, Iraq, and Turkey. On December 14, a Kolbar from Baneh died from his wounds by Iranian border guards while another one was shot to death in the forests of Baneh. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KMM), on the same day, a Kolbar died due to an avalanche. On December 16, a rights group (Hengaw) reported the severe injury of a Kolbar and the arrest of two others by Iranian regime guards near Piranshahr. In Marivan city, the Iranian regime security forces prevented the Kurdish students from holding a seminar about the conditions of the Kolbars at Payame Noor University. On Tuesday after calls from Kurdish activists, most of the markets in Baneh city held a general strike against the killings of the Kolbars.
• In the Kurdish city of Kermanshah, the Iranian security forces detained Behnam Ibrahim Zada, a prominent civilian activist who spent five years in prison for his work toward the rights of the labors and participation in demonstrations. During a raid on his home, regime forces also confiscated his laptop computer and cellphone. An anonymous source told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network that Ibrahim Zada was sentenced to 18 months by the Islamic revolutionary court in Kermanshah in his absence. Meanwhile, the Iranian regime also arrested fours Kurds in Marivan and transferred them to an undisclosed location run by the intelligence service.

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