At least 650 female school students in Iran have been poisoned.
A senior government official finally admitted that they were deliberately targeted.
None of the girls have died, but dozens were admitted to hospitals with respiratory problems, nausea, dizziness and fatigue.
“It became apparent that some people wanted all schools closed, especially those for girls“, Iran’s Deputy Health Minister Younes Panahi declared at a press conference on February 26.
poisoned with chemicals
Until then the only official statement was that the attorney general had opened a criminal investigation into the poisoning and that it could be “intentional.”
in the last three months the schoolgirls claimed to have perceived the smell of tangerines or rotten fish before becoming ill.
“The chemicals used are not for military use and are available to the public.“, said Vice Minister Panahi.
He added that the victims “do not need invasive treatment and you have to stay calm.”
Then he qualified that his statement had been “misinterpreted”, a sign of division among the authorities on how to handle social unrest when no one has been publicly identified as guilty.
The holy city of Qom is the epicenter of mass poisoningbut the attacks have occurred in up to eight locations in Iran.
Public discontent continues to rise in the country.
Angry fathers and mothers
The first incident occurred on November 30, 2022, when 18 female students from the Nour technical school in Qom were taken to hospital after showing signs of poisoning.
Since then, attacks have been reported in more than 10 girls’ schools in the province.
In mid-February, a group of more than a hundred people protested outside the governor’s office in Qom.
“You are obligated to ensure the safety of my children! I have two daughters“, shouted a father in a video widely shared on social networks.
“Two daughters… and all I can do is not let them go to school“.
“This is a war!” exclaimed a woman at the same meeting. “They are doing this at a girls’ high school in Qom to force us to stay home. They want the girls to stay home!”
Some parents claim their daughters were sick for weeks after the poisoning.
Video shot at a hospital shows a dazed teenager lying on a bed with her mother at her side.
“Dear mothers, I am a mother; my daughter is in a hospital bed and her limbs are weak“, she explains, anguished.
“I pinch her, but she doesn’t feel anything. Please don’t send your daughters to school.”
A very religious city
The attacks have focused on Qom, home to Shiite religious leaders and the backbone of the Islamic Republic.
The Iranian theocracy has seen its power questioned since the death in police custody of the young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini last September for allegedly not wearing the veil correctly.
Some Iranians wonder if the attacks are revenge for the role of girls and adolescents in the massive anti-government protests after the Amini case.
At that time, social networks were flooded with images of students removing their headscarves.
Others believe these attacks are the work of hardline Islamists who want to “copy” the Taliban in Afghanistan and Boko Haram militias in Nigeria, terrorizing parents into stopping their daughters from going to school.
“Has Boko Haram arrived in Iran?asked former Iranian Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi in an Instagram post.
The reformist politician also warned that “extremists will interpret the limits of government and religion in their favor.”
The Iranian regime often rejects criticism of restrictions on women in the country, such as the mandatory headscarf, arguing that many go to university.
But if the girls can’t finish school, college is an unattainable dream.
Lies from the authorities
The comments of a student – who claims to have been poisoned twice – in a meeting with the governor of Qom highlights how vague and misleading some statements by the authorities have been.
“They tell us that everything is fine, that they have done their research; but when my father asked at my school they told him sorry the cctv was down for a week and they can’t look into this“, denounced in the meeting.
And safe, “when I was poisoned for the second time on Sunday, the school principal said: ‘She has a heart condition, that’s why she’s hospitalized’“.
“But I don’t have any heart problems!” he protested.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-64794223, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-02-28 11:00:07
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