In Iran, students were again hit by poisoning symptoms on Saturday. The dozens of victims are mainly girls. Schoolgirl poisonings have been going on in Iran for months. But it is still unknown who the perpetrators are and why.
Saturday’s poisonings occurred at several schools across the country. A number of victims have been hospitalized.
The first reports of poisoning came in in November and since then more than five thousand students have been affected. They suffered from headaches, shortness of breath, dizziness and breathing problems, among other things. In some cases, they passed out and had to be hospitalized. As far as is known, there have been no fatalities.
A special committee is investigating the poisonings and should come up with a final report in two weeks. Despite this, little is known about the poisonings. Iranian media report that it is probably some kind of gas or poisonous substance.
Speculation about perpetrators
Dozens of arrests have been made since last month, but there is still speculation about the perpetrators. Several politicians suspect that this is an action by groups that want to end girls’ education in Iran.
The Iranian ministry said earlier in a statement that “hostile groups” are trying to “instill terror among the people and students and close schools” with the poisonings. According to the ministry, there may be a link with an opposition group in exile in Albania.
Victims think that these are retaliatory actions, because of the large-scale protests in Iran, in which many female students are also participating. The poisonings also sparked new protests. People have been demonstrating against the regime for months. That hits back hard with long prison sentences and executions of demonstrators.
The reason for the large-scale protests was the death of Mahsa Amini last September. The 22-year-old woman died after being arrested by the religious police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
In any case, it seems to be targeted poisoning, because the target was girls’ schools in almost all cases. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the perpetrators should be severely punished.
