Paris, June 19: An Iranian dissident group may have planned attacks on Tehran's embassies in Europe, France said on Wednesday following a roundup of dissidents which prompted three Iranian exiles to set themselves ablaze. The three exiles were badly burned after setting fire to themselves during a day-long protest against Tuesday's mass round-up by French authorities of dissidents opposed to Islamic rule in Tehran.

France said the People's Mujahideen group may have planned attacks on Iranian embassies, but an official from the group's political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), denied any such plans.

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Marzieh Babakhani, aged about 40, Segigheh Mojaveri, 38, and Mohammad Vakilifar, about 45, set fire to their clothes in separate incidents at a protest of about 100 exiles outside France's DST counterintelligence agency near the Eiffel Tower, witnesses said.

The Paris prosecutor's office earlier said Babakhani had died from the burns, but hospital sources said she was still alive.

Exiles had earlier identified Vakilifar by his nickname Sani. He was a political exile living in Germany, NCRI officials said. The two women were living as refugees in France.

A 25-year-old Iranian woman set herself ablaze near the French embassy in London on Wednesday night in protest against the round-up of dissidents in France. Police said her condition was "serious but not life threatening".

In Berne, Swiss police stopped an Iranian from lighting his clothes after dousing himself with a flammable liquid.

Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, the head of DST, told a news conference the Mujahideen had been turning its Val d'Oise centre near Paris into its main base.

"We know that they had the intention to commit attacks outside Iran, including in Europe, against Iranian interests and even against diplomatic representations," he said.

Ali Fafavi, a London-based NCRI official told Reuters: "The Mujahideen have never attacked Iranian embassies and there were no such plans. This is pure fabrication."

The NCRI said protesters would stay outside the DST headquarters until the release of their leader, Maryam Rajavi, who is held there. The DST's Tuesday raid rounded up 159 exiles.

"We're going to stay here until Rajavi is freed," said the NCRI official, who asked not to be named.

By Wednesday morning, police had released all but 26 of those detained in raids on homes and offices of the NCRI, a left-wing group opposed to religious rule in Iran.

The raids also netted several suitcases of $100 bills worth $8-9 million, as well as a large amount of communications equipment including encryption devices, Bousquet said. He said no arms had yet been found, but searches would continue.

"The French government has undertaken shameful attacks without any justification Iranians who have for years lived in France as peaceful citizens," NCRI's Fafavi said.

Judiciary sources said Rajavi and others still detained could face terrorism charges for allegedly planning attacks in Iran from their suburban Paris headquarters.

Rajavi is the wife of Massoud Rajavi, leading figure in the NCRI military arm, the People's Mujahideen, which the European Union and United States say is a terrorist organisation.

In Tehran, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami indicated he wanted the detainees extradited to Iran, saying: "Because Iran has been their victim...our natural request is that they be prosecuted in the place where they have committed their crimes."

NCRI officials said the Paris detainees had begun a hunger strike and that the self-immolations were spontaneous acts of protest. An Iranian set himself alight in London on Tuesday.

The People's Mujahideen is based in Iraq and was recently disarmed by US forces there.
Bureau Report