Neda Hassani Neda Hassani Neda Hassani (born 1977, Tehran, Iran; d. June 23, 2003, London, England) is notable as an Iranian protester who committed suicide by self-immolation. Neda Hassani was born to Ahmed and Foroogh Hassani, as the eldest child of an Iranian family of three children. The family left Iran in the early 1980s, taking refuge in Greece before settling in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Hassani attended Carleton University, studying computer science. Hassani was a supporter of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, as of 1988, following the execution of her uncle, Mahmoud Hassani, in Iran. She was not a member of the
Neda Agha-Soltan Graduate Scholarship Video footage of her death was seen around the world. In the words of "The Times", she "became an emblem of the Iranian people's struggle for freedom, and her death a symbol of the government's brutality". Another writer has called her a "defining symbol of the protest movement in Iran". After Agha-Soltan's death, two anonymous British donors offered to donate £4,000 to establish a scholarship for post-graduate students of philosophy at The Queen's College, Oxford (one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford); the college's governing body accepted the offers. One of the initial donors has pledged a