On 18 June 2003, following Maryam Rajavi’s arrest in France, a number of Mojahedin’s sympathizers, reported 20, committed self-immolations in streets of Paris and other Western cities to obtain her liberation. Commonly believed, these acts of self-burning were organizationally preset acts of dissent dictated to the members who practiced them. The organization, however, insists to hail them as heroic, spontaneous acts done by some sympathizers.
Pay attention that Mojahedin had videotaped all scenes of the self-immolations, implying it is impossible to be in the right place at the right time unless you were prepared and informed beforehand. The acts of self-burnings had to be stopped somewhere, and that justifies Maryam Rajavi’s call from prison on members to refrain from self-immolation. But the call came after two innocent women, Sediqeh Mojaveri and Neda Hassani, died of the burn injuries.
In a Mojahedin’s TV program on the anniversary of the self-immolations, Ali Hassani, Neda Hassani’s brother, described his sister’s self-immolation before the French Embassy in London based on completely videotaped scenes. His words prove the fact that none of these fiery protests had been done deliberately; the innocent practitioners were set on fire to fulfill a decreed mission.