Dozens of Iranian schoolgirls were hospitalized on Saturday (March 4) for poisoning in five provinces of Iran: Hamedan, Zanjan, West Azerbaijan, Fars, and Alborz. According to local media, the schoolgirls were taken to local hospitals for treatment and are in good condition overall. Iran has seen a spate of poisoning attacks in the five months since the death in detention of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for inappropriately wearing her headscarf.
According to sources, at least 10 girls’ schools were the target of poisoning attacks on Wednesday, including seven in Ardabil and three in Tehran, the capital.
Ardabil was forced to admit 108 students to the hospital, all of whom were in stable condition. According to a Fars report, parents said that children at one high school in Tehran’s western district of Tehransar were subjected to a poisonous spray. However, no other information is available at this time.
On Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said he has requested the intelligence and interior ministers to investigate poisoning instances, calling them the enemy’s plot to instill fear and despair in the people.
Iranian deputy health minister claimed that poisonings were intended to stop girls from getting education
This comes after Younes Panahi, the nation’s deputy health minister, claimed that the poisonings were intended to stop girls from receiving an education, according to a report from the news agency AFP on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Naseer Kanani said that an inquiry into the poisonings was one of the urgent priorities of the government, to allay the concerns of the families and bring offenders to justice.
Over the past three months, hundreds of cases of respiratory distress among schoolgirls, mostly in Qom, south of Tehran, have been documented; some of these cases required hospitalization. Iranians have been outraged by the poisonings, and some have criticized the government for remaining silent as a growing number of schools are allegedly being targeted.
