Kurdish environmental activist Chiako Yousefnejad dies from severe burns in Abidar highlands fire, Sanandaj

Hengaw - Sunday, July 27, 2025 
 
Chiako Yousefinejad, a Kurdish athlete and environmental activist from Sanandaj, has died from severe burns sustained while battling the massive fire in the Abidar Mountain range. His death comes just two days after fellow activist and attorney Hamid Moradi also passed away from injuries sustained in the same incident. 

According to reports received by the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, Yousefinejad lost his life on Sunday, July 27, 2025, in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Kawsar Hospital in Sanandaj, where he had been hospitalized since the fire. 

The blaze, which broke out on Thursday, July 24, 2025, rapidly spread across the Abidar highlands near the Zagros residential complex and Hassanabad. Despite the fire’s intensity, it was eventually brought under control solely through the efforts of local residents and environmental activists, with little effective support from state agencies. 

Yousefinejad was among six activists—along with Mohsen Hosseini-Panahi, Hamid Moradi, Khabat Amini, Arias Salimi, and Seyed Mostafa Hojabri—who sustained severe burns while fighting the fire. Hamid Moradi died in the early hours of Friday, July 25, and was buried the same day at Behesht-e Mohammadi Cemetery in Sanandaj, in a funeral attended by large crowds and marked by revolutionary chants. 

Khabat Amini remains in critical condition and is currently under intensive medical care.