Three More Iranians in Europe Set Themselves on Fire in Protest Against the Suppression of MEK Members

Three more Iranians in Europe set themselves on fire in protest against the suppression of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK) in France, in two separate incidents. A woman who set herself on fire on Wednesday as a protest has died in the hospital. During a demonstration held by at least twenty people in front of the French embassy in Rome, Italy's capital, two Iranian men set themselves ablaze. Italian police intervened immediately and extinguished the flames on their clothes and bodies. Another Iranian set himself on fire during a similar demonstration held in Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Officials have not provided information on the condition of the three self-immolators. A woman and a man who set themselves on fire during a similar protest in Paris yesterday are in critical condition. Additionally, protests against the mass arrest of MEK members by French police have continued for the second consecutive day in the French capital. Paris police arrested 60 protesters today. On Tuesday, French police arrested about 160 exiled Iranians who are members of the MEK, and 26 of them remain in custody. The MEK, which opposes the Tehran regime, recently had its main base in Iraq. Among those still detained in Paris is Maryam Rajavi, the wife of MEK leader Massoud Rajavi. The MEK announced ten years ago that Maryam Rajavi had been elected as the President of Iran. Today, Maryam Rajavi urged her supporters to avoid self-immolation and self-harm but to continue peaceful protests against these arrests. The United States and European Union countries have designated the MEK as a terrorist organization. Yesterday, the head of France's intelligence agency told reporters that the MEK had plotted to attack embassies and consulates of the Islamic Republic in European countries, but he did not specify which locations were targeted. The MEK actively participated in the Islamic Revolution and played a major role in bringing the clerical regime to power, but after the Islamic regime fully seized power in Iran, it severely repressed the MEK, which it saw as a rival. The MEK leaders initially fled to France but were expelled by the French government a few years later. The MEK then turned to Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq, who provided them with shelter and a base in Iraq, but at the end of the recent war in Iraq, the MEK was forced to surrender its weapons to U.S. forces.