Rebin Gorani, an 18-year-old environmental volunteer from Marivan, Kurdistan Province, has died after suffering respiratory injuries while tackling forest fires in the Hanjiran area of the city.
Gorani passed away on 5 September in intensive care at Tohid Hospital in Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province, where he had been hospitalised for 11 days in a coma, the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) reported.
He was transferred there after his condition worsened during firefighting efforts.
According to KHRN, Gorani experienced dizziness and breathing difficulties while tackling the fires in Hanjiran. After visiting medical centres in Marivan, his condition deteriorated and he fell into a coma on 26 August.
The young man was then transferred to the intensive care unit of Towhid Hospital in Sanandaj in a critical state, with low vital signs and in a coma. On 5 September, after 11 days of hospitalisation, he passed away.
Earlier, the Chya the Green Organisation issued a statement on his condition, saying: “Motivated by his commitment to protecting the nature and forests of his hometown, Rebin Gorani rushed overnight to the site of the fire. However, in the early hours he developed severe dizziness and breathing problems. After returning to his village and going to Marivan Hospital, he was not admitted despite his serious condition during the first two days. Only on the third day, after repeated bouts of severe vomiting and further deterioration of his health, was he hospitalised and treated. On Tuesday 26 August, his overall condition became critical, his vital signs destabilised, and he eventually went into a coma. He was then transferred to Towhid Hospital in Sanandaj where, according to the latest reports, he remains in intensive care in a coma.”
Gorani is the fourth Kurdish environmental activist to lose his life in the past month while battling wildfires in Sanandaj and Marivan. On 24 July, five activists sustained severe burns during efforts to contain a major fire on Abidar Mountain in Sanandaj. Three of them – Hamid Moradi, Chiako Yousefinezhad, and Khabat Amini – later died from their injuries.
At least 12 Kurdish environmental activists have died since 2018 while attempting to extinguish grassland and forest fires across Kurdistan. Evidence and accounts from local sources indicate that a significant number of these fires are human-caused and deliberate, with government policies, the role of security forces, and the structural shortage of firefighting equipment playing a decisive role in the fatalities.
Previously, an environmental activist from Sanandaj, criticising the lack of accountability of the relevant institutions, told the KHRN: “As environmental activists, we know very well that our primary duty is to hold the government accountable and to raise public awareness about environmental issues. But when the government ignores our demands, this accountability becomes meaningless.”
According to this activist: “In circumstances where institutions such as the Natural Resources Department, the Fire Brigade, and the Crisis Management Organisation shirk responsibility and fail to make proper use of even their existing resources, it is local activists who, driven by their sense of duty towards Kurdistan’s nature, enter fire zones without adequate safety equipment. Sadly, some of them lose their lives in the process.”