a porter from Baneh, lost his life after falling into the Zally River.
According to the Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, on Wednesday December 26th, 2018, a Porter from Baneh province, named “Yassin Rahimi”, son of Nasser, died after falling into the Zally River and drowning.
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.