On this scale, it became difficult to believe in a simple contest of circumstances: according to local media, more than 800 students were affected across the country. The religious city of Qom is particularly targeted. Since the end of November, a dozen establishments reserved for girls have reported collective poisoning caused by the inhalation of a gas during lessons. Fainting, headaches, nausea or vomiting, generalized weakness… Middle school or high school girls systematically end up in the hospital.
>> Iran: How the regime’s violent response stifled protests, without quenching society’s anger
Qom, Tehran, Isfahan, Borujerd…
The same phenomenon has been noted in Tehran, Isfahan and Borujerd. In this western town, the girls’ high school closed on Thursday after two consecutive days of poisoning. When it reopened on Saturday, again, 44 students again had to be taken care of in care centers.
We don’t know what gas they were poisoned with. It must be said that the authorities took time to take things seriously. At the beginning, the Minister of Education spoke of “rumors“, claiming that the students taken to the hospital were suffering”underlying diseases“.
It took the families to show their anger outside the Qom governorate headquarters on February 14, for an investigation to finally be opened: the next day, the government spokesman, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, announced that “the Ministries of Intelligence and Education were cooperatingto find the source of the poisoning.
Today, parents of several school girls who were poisoned during a chemical attack of #IRGC‘s #Basij militiamen at a high school in city of #Qoma few days ago, protested #Iran‘s Islamic Regime in the governor’s building of the city. pic.twitter.com/o3RAocjOzU
— Babak Taghvaee – The Crisis Watch (@BabakTaghvaee1) February 14, 2023
We talked about carbon monoxide, tangerine-smelling gas … At Monirieh high school in Tehran, the students say they smelled the smell of pepper spray, some complaining of burning eyes. The Deputy Minister of Education, Youness Panahi, who gave a press conference on Sunday February 26, contented himself with explaining that it was “available chemical compounds” on the market (so “no military use“) and that we knew how to deal with them.
Above all, he acknowledged that “some individuals wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed“. But no arrests have been announced.
A method used in Afghanistan
This method of mass poisoning has already been used by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Like in 2015, when 600 students in the province of Herat were poisoned by a product spread in classrooms or in some schools, it was the water from the well that had been poisoned.
In Iran, education for all is compulsory; in universities, girls even represent 55% of students.
AS A REMINDER, schools/colleges/high schools were one of the new centers of anti-regime protest in #Iran. Without establishing a direct link for the time being, this phenomenon worries the families, some of whom speak today of “poisoning”. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/gt8XnCnqvg
— Armin Arefi (@arminarefi) February 23, 2023
But religious extremists would prefer to see them stay at home, even more so since September 16 and the death of Mahsa Amini, arrested by the police for not wearing the hijab correctly. Because it is women and young girls who are leading the protest, against the wearing of the veil and against the regime of the mullahs. For some activists, religious extremists want to replace the morality police – dissolved in December – and are seeking by all means to prevent the continuation of the uprising.