Sanandaj: Khabat Amini, Third Environmental Activist, Dies from Severe Burns Caused by Abidar Mountain Wildfires

12:53 - 29 July 2025

On Monday, July 28, 2025, Khabat Amini, the third environmental activist from Sanandaj, died at “Kosar” Hospital in Sanandaj due to severe burn injuries sustained during the Abidar Mountain wildfires.

One day earlier, on Sunday, July 27, 2025, Chiako Yousefinejad, the second environmental activist from Sanandaj, also died from severe burns caused by the same wildfires. He passed away after being hospitalized for three days in the intensive care unit at Kosar Hospital.

In the early hours of Friday, July 25, 2025, Hamid Moradi, another environmental activist and director of the “Shene-ye Nozhin Kurdistan” Environmental Association, also died from burn injuries. His funeral in Sanandaj drew thousands of attendees, with mourners chanting “A martyr never dies” and holding a large memorial ceremony at his gravesite.

During the efforts to contain the wildfires on Thursday, July 24, 2025, on Abidar Mountain, five civil and environmental activists were burned and transferred to the intensive care unit.

According to a source speaking to Kurdpa, at noon on Thursday, July 24, 2025, a vast section of the slopes of Abidar Mountain — including the area behind Park-e Koodak (Children’s Park) and the surroundings of Zagros Township and Hasanabad — was engulfed in flames. The fire, which started at 1:30 PM, was brought under control through the relentless efforts of Sanandaj’s civil and environmental activists. Government emergency forces were present only to transport the injured from the mountain to the hospital, while the entire firefighting and containment operation was carried out by local residents and activists.

The cause of the wildfire remains unknown. Widespread fires across Kurdistan’s rangelands and forests have become a yearly phenomenon, exacerbated by the lack of government planning and equipment, forcing local people and environmental activists to face these crises with minimal resources. This recurring situation has already claimed the lives of dozens of environmental activists and injures many others each year.

Despite state media claims of “five fully-equipped firefighting teams,” local sources and eyewitnesses confirmed that firefighting and containment were effectively led by local residents and activists, once again revealing the ineffectiveness of official institutions and the critical role of the community and civil activists in confronting such crises.