Mon 06 March 2023:
The serial poisoning of schoolgirls was described as a “big and unforgivable sin” by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday. He urged the authorities to “seriously pursue the matter.”
“If it is proven that the students were poisoned, the perpetrators of this crime should be severely punished. There will be no amnesty for these people,” he said, in a video released by his office.
While investigations are ongoing to determine the cause of the mysterious illness, cases involving the serial poisoning of schoolgirls continue to be reported from various cities throughout Iran at the time of his remarks.
Since the first cases were reported in November of last year, according to a report in the Persian-language newspaper Etemaad on Saturday, there have been more than 2,000 reported cases of poisoning.
Crisis over suspected Iran schoolgirl poisonings escalates
Alleged poisonings began in November in the Shiite holy city of Qom. Reports now suggest schools across 21 of Iran’s 30 provinces have seen suspected cases.#Iran #IranianSchoolgirls pic.twitter.com/vwjnbD7QCd
— INDEPENDENT PRESS (@IpIndependent) March 5, 2023
The report said a total of 125 schools in different Iranian cities, including the capital Tehran, have reported cases of this mysterious illness so far, sending ripples of shock across the country.
Last week, Shahriar Heidari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s internal security and foreign policy commission, cited a “reliable source” as saying that “nearly 900” schoolgirls had been poisoned.
The first cases of these serial poisonings were reported last November when at least 18 schoolgirls from one of the schools in the central Iranian city of Qom were transferred to a hospital.
The students complained of symptoms such as nausea, headache, breathing problems, cough and body pain. It followed similar incidents in other girls’ schools in the city.
Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi on Saturday said, without elaborating, that investigators recovered “suspicious samples” in the course of their investigations into the incidents, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. He called for calm among the public, while also accusing the “enemy’s media terrorism” of inciting more panic over the alleged poisonings.
However, it wasn’t until the poisonings received international media attention that hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi announced an investigation into the incidents on Wednesday.
On Sunday, Raisi told the Cabinet, following a report read by Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib, that the root of the poisonings must be uncovered and confronted. He described the alleged attacks as a “crime against humanity for creating anxiety among student and parents.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a tweet on Friday said the Iranian girls “must be able to go to school without fear”, and that “all cases must be fully investigated.”
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, for his part, called it a “deeply concerning news.”
As more attacks were reported Sunday, videos were posted on social media showing children complaining about pain in the legs, abdomen and dizziness. State media have mainly referred to these as “hysteric reactions.”
Since the outbreak, no one was reported in critical condition and there have been no reports of fatalities.
Fidayeen Velayat
Suspicion in Iran has fallen on possible hard-liners for carrying out the suspected poisonings. Iranian journalists, including Jamileh Kadivar, a prominent former reformist lawmaker at Tehran’s Ettelaat newspaper, have cited a supposed communique from a group calling itself Fidayeen Velayat that purportedly said that girls’ education “is considered forbidden” and threatened to “spread the poisoning of girls throughout Iran” if girls’ schools remain open.
Iranian officials have not acknowledged any group called Fidayeen Velayat, which roughly translates to English as “Devotees of the Guardianship.” However, Kadivar’s mention of the threat in print comes as she remains influential within Iranian politics and has ties to its theocratic ruling class. The head of the Ettelaat newspaper also is appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mass hysteria
Kadivar wrote Saturday that another possibility is “mass hysteria.” There have been previous cases of this over the last decades, most recently in Afghanistan from 2009 through 2012. Then, the World Health Organization wrote about so-called “mass psychogenic illnesses” affecting hundreds of girls in schools across the country.
“Reports of stench smells preceding the appearance of symptoms have given credit to the theory of mass poisoning,” WHO wrote at the time. “However, investigations into the causes of these outbreaks have yielded no such evidence so far.”
Iran has not acknowledged asking the world health body for assistance in its investigation. WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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