Several hundred schoolgirls in Iran victims of mysterious poisoning
The case of poisoning schoolgirls which began in late November with first cases in the holy city of Qom caused a wave of anger in the country, where voices have denounced the authorities' silence in the face of the growing number of schools affected. If the government attributes this series of attacks to opponents of girls' education, opposition figures link poisonings to the wave of protests that have shaken Iran for several months.
The case of poisoning schoolgirls shaking Iran for several weeks has grown. On Wednesday March 1, more than a hundred young girls were intoxicated by gas in schools across the country.
Students from seven girls' schools in the city of Ardabil ( north ) were unwell in the morning by gas fumes and 108 people were transported to hospital, announced the head of the hospital service at the Tasnim news agency. The general condition of the students, who suffered from respiratory difficulties and nausea, is developing favorably, he said.
Les médias ont également fait état de nouveaux cas d'intoxication dans au moins trois établissements de Téhéran. Dans un lycée de Tehransar, dans l'ouest de la capitale, des élèves ont été "intoxiquées par la projection d'une sorte de spray", a indiqué de son côté l'agence de presse Fars, qui cite des parents d'élèves. La même source a fait état de la mobilisation des services d'urgence sur place.
The day before, some 35 students from the Khayyam girls' school in Pardis, a city in Tehran province, "were transferred to the hospital" after being unwell Tuesday morning, announced the news agency Tasnim. None of these schoolgirls was in a worrying state after breathing gaseous substances which remain mysterious in their establishment.
Collective intoxication
This affair of collective intoxication, which makes great noise, began in late November when media reports of first cases of respiratory poisoning of hundreds of approximately 10-year-old girls in schools in the Holy City of Qom ( center ). Some of them were briefly hospitalized.
D'après les estimations données mercredi par la porte-parole de la commission parlementaire de la santé, Zahra Sheikhi, près de 800 élèves ont été affectées depuis les premiers cas d'empoisonnement par voies respiratoires fin novembre dans la ville sainte de Qom et 400 autres à Boroujerd (ouest).
These poisonings are the fact of "certain individuals" who seek, through this action, to "close all schools, in particular girls' schools", revealed the Ministry of Health on Sunday. They use "chemical compounds available" on the market for this, he said, excluding "military use" substances".
The case sparked anger in the country, where voices denounced the authorities' silence over the growing number of schools affected.
Faced with these concerns, Iranian President Ebrahim Raïssi instructed the Minister of the Interior, Ahmad Vahidi, on Wednesday to "follow the case as soon as possible", and to "inform" the public on the investigation in order to "balance the concerns of families", according to the website of the presidency.
In the afternoon, the minister announced to the press that the authorities were still investigating the "possible culprits" of the poisonings, but that no arrests had yet been made. "So far, we have no final report stating that a specific toxic substance has been used," he added.
National police chief Ahmadreza Radan announced on Tuesday that his forces were "identifying the possible suspects". "All state services are trying to dispel the apprehensions of the people," he promised, according to the Tasnim agency.
The Fars agency announced the holding of an "emergency meeting" in Parliament to investigate the matter, with the participation of the Ministers of Education, Information and Health.
"Misogynous fanatics"
Activists have compared those responsible for these attacks to the Taliban in Afghanistan and to the jihadists of Boko Haram in West Africa, who oppose the education of girls.
This mysterious affair comes as Iran faces a protest movement since the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by the morals police who accused her of having violated the strict dress code imposing in particular on women the wearing of the veil in public.
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