A large wildfire broke out across Mount Abidar in Sanandaj (Sine) countryside on 24 July, prompting local environmental activists and volunteers to rush to the area to contain it. Despite their efforts, the fire caused serious injuries due to a lack of adequate firefighting resources and protective equipment. Five people were hospitalised after trying to contain the large blaze that spread across the mountain.
Hamid Moradi, a lawyer and director of the environmental organisation Shnay Nawzhin Kurdistan, died from severe burns on 25 July at a medical facility in Sanandaj, one day after the fire. Chiako Yousefinezhad and Khabat Amini, who were receiving treatment at Kowsar Hospital in Sanandaj, died on July 28. Two other injured activists, Mohsen Hossein-Panahi and Seyyed Mostafa Hazhir, remain in critical condition at Kowsar Hospital.
The Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK) released a statement calling for strong support for the general strike announced by the Kurdistan-Sine Environmental Association for July 29, 2025 against the destruction of nature. PJAK described the strike as an expression of social response to environmental destruction.
The statement drew attention to the fires that occur every year in the Zagros Mountains, emphasizing that this is more than a natural disaster, but also political destruction.
“Hundreds of hectares of forest are burning, nature is being destroyed. We deeply mourn the loss of our selfless young people who lost their lives in the fires,” the statement said, noting that the environmental destruction is linked to the government’s negligence.
PJAK commemorated environmental activists who lost their lives, describing them as “defenders of the country”.
“They sacrificed their lives for this cause. Without halting this systematic destruction of nature, a genuine solution cannot be achieved,” it underlined.
The statement pointed out that environmental crises are a form of violence not only against nature but also directly against civil society.
PJAK emphasized the need to form an “ecological liberation movement” in response to attacks on the environment and reacted to the lack of intervention by the government and relevant authorities. “This tragedy has once again shown that there is a serious gap in environmental protection. The lack of intervention is endangering the lives of our people and nature,” it said.
Addressing teachers, workers, women, young people, and intellectuals in particular, the statement concluded: “Let us take a step toward a clearer and more determined future by remembering Hamid, Chiako and Khabat together.”