ISLAMABAD/ TEHRAN: Iran said on Saturday that more than 100 people had been arrested nationwide for the poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls.
Tehran said the unidentified alleged perpetrators might be linked with ‘hostile’ groups.
Since late November, schoolgirls across Iran have suffered fainting, nausea, shortness of breath and other symptoms after ‘unpleasant’ odours on school premises, with some admitted to hospitals.
State media said on Saturday that the interior ministry had confirmed the arrests over the suspected poison attacks in more than 200 schools, which have sparked fear and anger among students and their parents.
State news agency IRNA said, citing the ministry, that over 100 people responsible for the recent school poising were identified, arrested, and investigated.
It said that among those arrested were people with hostile motives to instill terror in the citizens and students to close schools.
The ministry said that “fortunately, from the middle of the last week until today, the number of such incidents in schools had decreased significantly, and there had been no reports of sick students.
The statement pointed at possible links to an Albania-based exiled Iranian opposition group, People’s Mujahedin of Iran or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), that Tehran considers a ‘terrorist’ organization.
The probe of these criminal people, including their possible connections with terrorist organizations such as the MEK and others, was ongoing, IRNA said.
The school poisonings started two months into the protests that gripped Iran following the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, an ethnic Kurd who had been arrested over an alleged violation of strict dress rules for women.
