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Hundreds of Iranian girls in various schools have suffered “mild poisoning” attacks in recent months, the health minister said, with some politicians suggesting they may have been targeted by religious groups opposed to girls’ education.
The attack comes at a critical time for Iran’s clerical authorities, which are facing a series of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in the custody of moral police who enforce a strict dress code.
Poison attacks on more than 30 schools in at least four cities began in November in Iran’s Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, prompting some parents to pull their children out of school, state media reported.
Social media posts showed several hospitalized schoolchildren, who said they felt nauseous and had heart palpitations.
“Investigating where this mild poison came from… and whether it was a deliberate step is not within the scope of my ministry,” Health Minister Bahram Einollahi was quoted as saying by state media.
His deputy, Younes Panahi, said on Sunday that “some people want schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” according to state news agency IRNA.
One boys’ school has been targeted in the town of Borujerd, state media reported.
Hardline groups are suspected
Lawmaker Alireza Monadi said there is a “devil’s will” to prevent girls from going to school as a “serious threat,” according to IRNA.
He did not elaborate, but the suspicion has fallen on the hardline group that operates as a self-proclaimed guardian of the interpretation of Islam.
In 2014, people took to the streets of the city of Isfahan after a wave of acid attacks, which appeared to be aimed at terrorizing women who violated the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
“If the operator of the acid attack had been identified and punished then, today the reactionary group would not have ganged up on our innocent girls at school,” reformist politician Azar Mansoori said on Twitter.
Some senior clerics, MPs and politicians criticized the government for failing to stop the poison attacks and gave contradictory reasons, with some warning that frustration among families could lead to further protests.
“Officials gave contradictory statements … one said it was intentional, another said it was related to security and another official blamed the school’s heating system,” senior cleric Mohammad Javad Tabatabai-Borujerdi told state media.
“Such statements increase people’s distrust [toward the establishment].”
A judicial investigation into the poisoning case is underway, state media reported.
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