Hundreds of Iranian schoolgirls complained of respiratory distress in what has emerged as another episode of “mysterious poisoning” in Iran. The mysterious poisoning, suspected to be a case of a pre-mediated poisoning, has been reported in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran. Many schoolgirls needed hospitalisation, local media reported.
Last week, a government official cited by local media, claimed that the attacks were suspected to be a deliberate attempt to force the closure of girls’ schools.
“Today (Tuesday) at noon, a number of students were poisoned at the Khayyam Girls’ School in the city of Pardis, Tehran province,” Tasnim news agency reported.
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The report said that 35 girls were taken to hospital so far. It added that hundreds of cases of poisoning have been reported in at least two other Iranian cities since November last year.
On Sunday, students at a girls’ school in Borujerd were rushed to hospital after a poisoning incident, the fourth in the western city within the past week.
Iran schoolgirl ‘poisonings’ and Mahsa al-Amini protests
The poisonings targeting schoolgirls came over five months into protests that rocked the Islamic Republic after custodial death of 22-year-old Mahsa al-Amini, following her arrest for an alleged violation of the country’s strict dress code for women. Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have been arrested in connection to the protests. Officially, the state of Iran describes the protests as “riots”.
In Tehran, a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday admitted that the country was “dealing with student poisonings”.
The suspected poisonings were being investigated, Iran’s police chief told Tasnim news agency on Tuesday.
“Our priority is to find the origin of this case, and until then we will not judge whether it was intentional or not,” it quoted Ahmad-Reza Radan as saying.
“We have not yet arrested anyone in this case and we are identifying possible suspects,” the police chief added.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s deputy health minister Younes Panahi said that some people had been poisoned at a girls’ school in Qom, in a bid to shut down education for girls.
“After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” a state news agency quoted him as saying at the time.
(With inputs from agencies)
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