Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have said that they were investigating reports that many schoolgirls have been poisoned as “revenge” after they participated in recent protests against the ruling religious clique, which has been asking women to wear hijab and follow other religious codes.
Iran’s Deputy Education Minister Younes Panahi said: “After the poisoning of many students in Qom, it was found that few citizens wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed.”
He said, “it has been revealed that chemical compounds used to poison the students are not war chemicals. The poisoned schoolgirls do not need aggressive treatment, and many chemical agents used are treatable.”
Poisoning of schoolgirls
A member of the parliament’s health commission, Dr Homayoun Sameyah Najafabadi, confirmed that the poisoning of schoolgirls “in cities such as Borujerd and Qom has been done intentionally.”
Talking to The Guardian Dr Najaf abadi,who specialise in treating poisoning victims, said: “With the available data, the probable cause of the poisoning could be a weak organophosphate agent. Even if some of the poisoned students show the sign of severe sweating, vomiting, excess salivation, intestinal hypermotility, and diarrhoea, the attack was done using this agent.”
He said that they believed the objective was to “scare the protesters by involving extremist groups in the country.” The doctor said, “they (Iranian authorities) want to take revenge on girls who are the pioneers of the latest protests.”
“Never before have I treated someone who was poisoned with organophosphate agents. The cases I treated were workers who were exposed to these agents in agricultural pesticides.”
The attacks led to girls staying away from schools. A teacher in Qom, which is about 85 miles south of Tehran, told Radio Farda that of the 250 students, only 50 attended classes. The previous week, angry parents protested outside the governor’s office in Qom, as many schools were closed due to the pending investigation.
Masih Alinejad, the Iranian human rights activist based in the United States, told The Guardian: “In my judgment, this chemical attack is revenge by the Islamic Republic against the fearless women, who [rejected] the mandatory hijab and shook the ‘Berlin Wall’ of [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei.
She said, “As the Iranian regime hates women and girls, I call on women worldwide, especially the schoolgirls, to be the voice of Iranian students and press leaders of democratic nations to condemn the poisonings and isolate Khamenei’s regime.”
“I call this biological terrorism, and the United Nations should investigate it. We need an an organisation to investigate it at the earliest.”
