By Pooya Stone
According to Iranian human rights sources, in July, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) opened fire on porters, killing six and wounding 19 others in Iran’s border areas.
The report also states that one porter was killed in a car accident and another was injured by a natural disaster.
Poverty and economic problems are causing Iranians who live in the border regions, especially in the western provinces of Iran, to undertake risky and dangerous activities such as load carrying.
Large numbers of porters have been killed and injured in the past few years as a result of direct shootings by IRGC forces, and some have died as a result of freezing or falling from mountainous trails.