Sanandaj: Environmental Activist Hamid Moradi Dies from Severe Burn Injuries

On Friday, July 25, 2025, Hamid Moradi, an environmental activist and director of the environmental association Shna-ye Nozhin Kurdistan, died at Kosar Hospital in Sanandaj due to the severity of burn injuries sustained during the recent Mount Abidar fire.

On Thursday, July 24, 2025, during a large-scale wildfire on Mount Abidar in Sanandaj, Mr. Moradi, along with four other civil and environmental activists, suffered severe burns and was transferred to Kosar Hospital for treatment. Several additional individuals were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries.

The fire was contained through the tireless efforts of local residents and environmental activists, while government forces were present only to transfer the injured to hospitals.

The cause of the fire remains unknown. Widespread wildfires in the pastures and forests of Kurdistan have become a recurring, annual phenomenon. Due to the absence of government planning and the lack of proper firefighting equipment, local communities and environmental activists are forced to intervene with limited resources to contain these crises each year. This situation has resulted in the deaths of dozens of environmental activists in recent years and continues to injure many others annually.

Despite state media claims of “five fully equipped firefighting teams operating on site,” local and informed sources confirm that firefighting and containment efforts were carried out almost entirely by local volunteers and environmental activists, exposing once again the inefficiency of official state institutions and the decisive role played by local communities in responding to such disasters.