Woman dies after setting herself on fire in protest

A WOMAN who turned herself into a human torch outside the French embassy in London last week as a protest has died, police said yesterday.

The woman is believed to be 25-year-old Neda Hassani, an Iranian who reportedly lived in Canada and was on a visit to Britain.

She was one of four people who set themselves alight outside the embassy in protest at a raid in Paris by French authorities against opposition group, the People’s Mujahideen of Iran.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said a woman in her 20s who set herself on fire outside the embassy died at around 4.40pm on Monday at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London.

When she was first taken to hospital by ambulance on Tuesday last week she was thought to be in a serious but not life-threatening condition. Two men set themselves on fire on Thursday last week. They were both taken to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

On Tuesday, Heshmat Zandi, 38, a mechanical engineering student from Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, doused himself in petrol and set himself alight causing 40% burns to his body.

The shocking protests were sparked after Sedighieh Mohageri died after setting herself on fire outside the French internal security agency.

The protests met with pleas by the British and French for people not to resort to suicidal methods.