Death of at Least 17 Afghan Migrants from Thirst in Iran

According to a report by the human rights organization Haalvsh, at least 17 Afghan migrants—including women, men, and children—have died from severe thirst and lack of water in the Mak-Sookhteh area near Rotek, in Saravan County, Iran. The incident reportedly occurred while they were attempting to cross through one of the unofficial border routes.

Haalvsh stated that among the victims were five members of a family from Baghlan Province: a 45-year-old mother and her four daughters, aged 22, 18, 16, and 14. At least six children under the age of 14 were also reportedly among the dead. After being recovered, the bodies were transferred from the area, and due to insufficient capacity at the Saravan morgue, were reportedly moved to the morgue in Khash.

Haalvsh has also noted that the final number of victims and the full details of the incident have not yet been independently verified, and that the identification process for some of the deceased is still ongoing.



Note | The Border as a Factory of Death

In official narratives, death at the border is often reduced to “smuggling,” “illegal entry,” or simply an “accident.” Yet the real question lies elsewhere: who—or what—forces a human being to choose between staying and dying? War? Poverty? The impossibility of life itself?

For many refugees, flight and migration become nothing more than a choice between different forms of death.

Is there any meaningful difference between dying of thirst, dying under shellfire, or dying from hunger?

For some displaced people, these are the only options that remain.

This tragedy is produced and intensified by states through the construction and enforcement of borders.

A border is not merely a geographical line; it is a technology of control. When safe passage, visas, freedom of movement, and even access to water become privileges rather than rights, the desert itself becomes an instrument of policy. Within such an order, thirst is not simply a natural occurrence—it is a human need neglected and denied until it becomes fatal.

The seventeen people who died in Mak-Sookhteh did not simply lose their lives; they were deprived of their right to live in silence. No flag, no state, and no border is more valuable than a human being who has entered the desert in search of survival.

And on the anniversary of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, we have yet another reason to remember this fundamental truth. Seventeen people died of thirst, reminding us how essential human dignity and the recognition of human worth truly are.

Had those principles existed in practice, those seventeen people might still be among us today.

Long live life—and the struggle to defend it.

The Anarchist Front expresses its deepest condolences in response to this crime and calls upon all people to join in a common struggle against this.