From Tehmina Mustapha
TEHRAN: Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday said those behind the poisoning of schoolgirls in recent months should face “severe punishment”, according to his website.
In total, several hundred cases of gas poisoning have been reported in more than 52 schools across Iran since the end of November, according to an official count.
Female pupils have reported suffering symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea and vertigo after detecting “unpleasant” or “unknown” odours, sparking fear among parents and calls for authorities to act.
“If the poisonings are proven, it would be an unforgivable crime [and] the perpetrators must be handed severe punishments, with no amnesty for them,” Khamenei said in his first public comments on the mystery poisonings.
Judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei said on Monday that individuals arrested for poisoning the schoolgirls would be put on trial and charged with “corruption on earth” — an accusation that would lead to the death penalty. Iranian officials have not announced any arrests so far. Late on Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi denounced the poisoning cases, which have led some girls to be hospitalised, as “a new conspiracy by the enemies” of Iran.
This action, he said, was meant to “instil fear in the hearts of students, children and their parents”.
Meanwhile, authorities on Monday arrested Iranian journalist Ali Pourtabatabaei who had been covering the poisoning attacks for the Qomnews website, Etemad reformist newspaper reported. The first case of poisoning reportedly took place at the end of November in the shrine city of Qom, south of Tehran.
Etemad also reported that dozens of schoolgirls in the eastern city of Quchan were taken to the hospital after smelling “unpleasant odours” on Monday, while more than 700 similar cases were reported in the southwestern province of Khuzestan on Sunday.
Last week, deputy health minister Younes Panahi said that the suspected attacks were aimed at shutting down education for girls. Earlier, Worried parents protested in Iran’s capital Tehran and other cities on Saturday over a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media videos.
The so-far unexplained illnesses have affected hundreds of schoolgirls in recent months. Iranian officials believe the girls may have been poisoned and have blamed Tehran’s enemies. The country’s health minister has said the girls have suffered “mild poison” attacks and some politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups opposed to girls’ education.
Sickness affected more than 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces on Saturday. Videos posted on social media showed parents gathered at schools to take their children home and some students being taken to hospitals by ambulance or buses.
A gathering of parents outside an Education Ministry building in western Tehran on Saturday to protest over the illnesses turned into an anti-government demonstration, according to a video.
“Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh,” protesters chanted, likening the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to the militant Islamic State group. Similar protests were held in two other areas in Tehran and other cities including Isfahan and Rasht.
