A suspected attack on students in a city east of Tehran has resulted in dozens of schoolgirls being taken to hospital after being poisoned. This incident is the latest in a series of similar occurrences that have taken place over the past three months.
Over the past three months, there have been numerous cases of respiratory problems among Iranian schoolgirls, primarily in the city of Qom, south of Tehran. Several students required hospitalization. According to a government official, these incidents were likely a deliberate attempt to shut down girls’ schools. On Tuesday, Tasnim news agency reported that at midday, a group of students were poisoned at the Khayyam girls’ school in Pardis, Tehran province.
According to the agency, 35 students have been taken to the hospital as of now, adding to the hundreds of cases of poisoning that have been reported since November in at least two other cities, including Qom.
The incidents of poisoning have occurred after more than five months of protests in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating the country’s dress code for women.
On Sunday, another incident occurred at a girls’ school in Borujerd, marking the fourth incident in the past week in the western city. Similar incidents have also been reported in Qom and other cities since November, with hundreds of cases of poisoning reported.
The suspected attacks were discussed at a meeting of Iran’s parliament on Tuesday, with the country’s health minister, Bahram Eynollahi, in attendance, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, was quoted by IRNA as saying that both Qom and Borujerd were facing incidents of student poisonings. Iran’s deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, had previously stated that some people had intentionally poisoned students in Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls. He did not provide further details, but said that after the poisoning incident, it was found that some individuals wanted to close all schools, particularly girls’ schools. No arrests have been made so far in connection with the poisoning cases.
