Iranian schoolgirls poisoned in “deliberate” attacks by the regime to silence recent anti-government protests, activists have suggested after a series of mysterious incidents across the country.
Hundreds of schoolgirls in Iran are reported to have been poisoned by poison gas in recent months. At least one girl has died.
Most of the affected schools are girls’ schools in major cities, including Tehran, Qom, Sari, Ardabil, Borujerd, Torbat Jam and Kuchan. The first reported attacks took place in the holy city of Qom in November, but according to the Iranian Center for Human Rights, 26 more schools have been attacked in recent days.
Human rights activists suggest the regime is behind the poisoning in retaliation for recent protests. Others say they may be the work of hardline groups opposed to girls’ education, which flourished under the Conservative government.
This was stated by Jasmine Ramsey, Deputy Director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. I: “Certainly [the attacks are] intentionally. The exact target is not yet clear.
She added that schoolgirls have played a major role in the recent protests: the girls refused to wear the hijab, took part in marches, chanted anti-regime slogans, and harassed high-ranking paramilitary officials when they made propaganda speeches on campus.
“Things like this have never happened in the history of the Islamic Republic before university students took part in political protests, but this is the first time we are seeing schoolgirls participating,” Ms Ramsey said.
“The fact that these attacks on schoolgirls during this period were sudden adds a lot of weight to the fact that whoever is perpetrating them is trying to get the students to stop protesting.”
Parents said their children were ill for several weeks after the poisoning, and many of them required hospitalization. Symptoms include dizziness, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and nausea.
Victims reported smelling tangerine or rotten fish before falling ill. Videos posted on social media show the girls lying half asleep in hospital beds, some on oxygen.
semi-official More news reported on Wednesday that MP Shahriar Heydari, citing a “reliable source,” claims that “nearly 900 students” from across the country were poisoned. But activists say more than 1,000 people have been affected.
The attacks come at a challenging time for Iran as protests against women’s rights and against the regime erupted across the country following the death of Mahsa Amini, who was detained by police last September.
Regime uses ‘terrorist tactics’, activists say
Social media is teeming with people who blame the Iranian regime for the attacks, including prominent Iranian human rights activist and journalist Masih Alinejad. She shared a video of the girl crying and saying, “I can’t breathe,” adding, “[The] The Islamic Republic is using terrorist tactics to kick girls off the streets and prevent them from taking off their hijab and protesting.”
The BBC Persian Service quoted a video of schoolgirls chanting “Woman, life, freedom” and “Death to the infanticide regime” in front of one of the affected schools, Aban School 13 in Tehran’s Tehransar district.
Parents of students gathered in front of another target school in the capital.
When reports of the poisoning first emerged in November, Iranian officials denied that the attacks were deliberate or intended to deprive girls of access to education.
Iranian Education Minister Yousef Nouri initially called the reports “rumors”. The government added that some students were hospitalized due to “lower conditions”. Tasnim news agency.
Now the government says it was deliberate and authorities have launched an investigation, but Ms Ramsey says they are “stretching their legs”.
“It is only now that the Iranian government has admitted that it is acting on purpose. And the question is, in a country like Iran – authoritarian, [with] a vast intelligence community and scattered agencies aware of all activities – how the hell is this group or groups coordinating these attacks on outlying cities across the country? And the government hasn’t known about this for months?
The validity of the study is also being questioned.
The BBC has quoted a video of a schoolgirl saying she was poisoned twice. She said that she [officials] Tell us, “It’s okay, we’ve done the research.” But when my father asked at my school, they told him: “Sorry, the cameras have not been working for a week now and we cannot investigate,” she said.
When she was poisoned a second time, “the director said, ‘She has a bad heart, so she’s in the hospital.’ But I have no heart problems!”
According to journalist and children’s rights activist Khedi Kimiai, Iranian authorities are also accused of covering up the death of 11-year-old Fatemeh Rezaie, who died of gas poisoning at a school in Qom.
She wrote on twitter that “the public prosecutor of Kuma threatened her family that she would not inform the media and [told them to] Bury them in ignorance.”
“Although this student has not been previously ill, the authorities are trying to create a false medical report saying that she has a long history of illness,” Ms. Kimiai wrote.
The Center for Human Rights in Iran and other human rights groups are calling on the UN Secretary-General to set up a committee, composed of representatives from UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Health Organization, to enter Iran and investigate the attacks, and how is health there in the long term. consequences for girls.
Source: I News
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