The 1458-kilometer border with Iraq is Iran’s longest land border with its neighbors. For a long time, this border has been comprised of the most important transaction and commercial ports Iran has with Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan. However, importers still use the border to import goods. In so doing they hire local people, called porters (Koolbar in Kurdish), to transport goods from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iranian Kurdistan. According to estimates, 300 Koolbars die annually, 71 percent of whom are shot to death by border patrols. Mostly ranging in age from 13 to 65, Koolbars cross the border with heavy loads, taking an average of 8 to 12 hours — the routes running through life-risking locations including winding mountain trails, valleys, steep hills and other obstacle courses. The risk of being shot by a border patrol adds to the hazards Koolbars have to face in pursuit of a living.
Bullets have no borders
Series, 3rd place
The Iranian-Kurdish town of Piranshahr, one of the most important cities near the country’s border with Iraq.
A Kurdish man carries goods on his back through the mountains on the Iran-Iraq border.
Kurdish men carry goods on their backs through the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border.
Kurdish men carry goods on their backs through the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border.
Ahmad, 41,from Mariwan, lost his fingers to frostbite when he became lost in the mountains nearthe Iran-Iraq border while smuggling goods.
A Kurdish man eats snow for hydration after eight hours of carrying heavy goods on his back throughthe mountains of the Iran-Iraq border.
Kurdish men carry goods on their backs through the mountains of the Iran-Iraq border.
A woman shows a photo of her son, Fakher, a young Kurdish man who was killed by police with a gunshot to the head. He had been carrying goods across the border from Iraq two days prior.
Shafi, 30, lays paralyzed in bed with family and friends, after having been shot by Iranian border police while smuggling goods from Iraq three years prior.
A family weeps as they show a photo of their loved one, Fakher, a young Kurdish man who was killed by police with a gunshot to the head. He had been carrying goods across the border from Iraq two days prior.
Shafi, 30, lays paralyzed in a hospital in Tehran, after having been shot by Iranian border police while smuggling goods from Iraq three years prior.