Since the end of November, hundreds of respiratory poisoning cases requiring hospital treatment have been reported in Qom schools.
Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health Younes Panahi said on Sunday that “some people” have poisoned schoolgirls in the holy Muslim city of Qom in an attempt to stop girls from being educated, Iranian state media reported, according to the AFP news agency.
Since the end of November, hundreds of respiratory poisoning cases requiring hospital treatment have been reported in Qom schools.
“After several poisonings of students in schools in Qom, it was found that some people would like all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” Panahi said.
Panahi did not elaborate on his statement, and no arrests have been made in connection with the poisoning cases.
Cases of poisoning have caused demonstrations in Qom. The parents of the sick students gathered in front of the city administration building on February 14 to demand an explanation for the poisonings.
Iran’s attorney general ordered an investigation to be opened to find out about the poisonings.
Iran has been in turmoil since mid-September when a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Masha Amini died after being arrested by Iran’s chastity police.
According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), which focuses on reporting on human rights violations in Iran, government security forces had killed 530 protesters in the country by February 19 after Amin’s death.
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