By Lea Mina | Staff Writer
On Tuesday, February 28th, 2023, dozens of schoolgirls in Iran were rushed to hospitals after reportedly being poisoned. Hundreds of similar cases have been reported in the past three months, mainly in the Shi’ite Muslim city of Qom, in the south of Tehran.
The first poisonings reportedly happened in November of 2022 among the schoolgirls and staff of the Nour Technical School in the religious center of Qom. The girls were taken to the hospital after saying they felt dizzy, nauseous, and had suffered heart palpitations. Some even developed respiratory problems or were unable to move, according to media reports. In total, almost 700 girls have been poisoned in 30 different schools in Iran, since November.
Furious parents of students who had been taken to hospitals gathered outside of Qom’s governorate to demand an explanation from the authorities. Thus, the government’s spokesperson, Ali Bahadori Jahromi, said that the country’s intelligence and education ministries were trying to determine the cause of the poisonings.
Iran’s deputy health minister said that the girls have been poisoned with the aim of shutting down education for girls. “After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed”, according to the IRNA state news agency. Some activists compared the people behind these attacks to the Taliban in Afghanistan or to Boko Haram in the Sahel.
The attacks come at a critical time for Iran’s religious rulers who faced major anti-government protests. The poisonings started two months after nationwide protests sparked; when 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the morality police after her arrest for wearing the hijab improperly and violating Iran’s strict dress code. Women stood in solidarity with Amini and played a leading role in the protests.
After months of ignoring the evidence of an unknown toxic gas poisoning girls’ schools throughout the country, President Ebrahim Raisi called for an immediate examination into this issue. As a result, Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, ordered a judicial investigation into these alarming events that are continuously happening.