Iranian authorities are investigating reports that a wave of school girls have been sickened over what is suspected to be deliberate poisonings.
Officials believe that at least 10 girls’ schools were targeted March 1 in Ardabil and Tehran, sending more than 100 girls to the hospital in what is believed to be the latest in a string of attacks aimed at female students, Arab News reported.
UPDATE: A new wave of poisoning cases has been reported in Iran, according to local media.
The mysterious incidents may have been deliberate attacks designed to prevent girls from seeking an education, officials said in recent days.https://t.co/iJeknMdDgA
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 1, 2023
Over the past few months dozens of schools throughout Iran have seen female students hospitalized after reports of smelling gas, NBC News reported. Since November 2022, 1,200 girls have required hospitalization for breathing difficulties, an Iranian lawmaker revealed to Arab News.
Authorities reportedly tried to downplay the issue initially with Iran’s police chief, Ahmad Reza Radan, considering the possibility that the poisonings were accidental. As more girls fell ill, however, that theory was rejected by Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi.
“What is clear is that both in Qom and Borujerd, it is a deliberate issue. The poisoning of students of Qom was intentional and caused by available chemical compounds. Some people wanted all schools to be closed, especially girls’ schools,” Panahi said at a news conference, according to NBC News.
Alireza Monadi, a member of Iran’s Parliament who sits on the Parliament’s education committee, agreed with Panahi’s assessment calling the attempt to keep education from girls “a serious danger,” the outlet reported.
The poisonings have sparked anger throughout the country, with many people blaming the Iranian government for the attacks.
“These attacks are the result of the Iranian government’s own policies. Like the Iranian government, the people who are carrying out these attacks are petrified of the power of Iran’s school girls; of what Iran could become if these girls had a say in the government’s policies,” Jasmin Ramsey, the deputy director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, said, according to NBC News.
“The poisoning of school girls is revenge by the terrorist Iranian regime against brave women that made the compulsory hijab the flag, and shook the Berlin wall of Khomeini,” Iranian activist and journalist Masih Alinejad tweeted, according to NBC News. (RELATED: Protests Erupt Across Iran Over Death Of Woman Detained By Morality Police)
Panahi said that the chemicals used to reportedly poison the students are not “war chemicals” and has stated that the sickened girls are not requiring aggressive treatment for their symptoms, the outlet reported. Toxicology experts are being consulted and a special committee has been set up to find those responsible for the poisonings, Panahi added