Mysterious Serial Poisonings of Schoolgirls Haunts Iran

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Hundreds of schoolgirls in Iran’s holy city of Qom have been hospitalized after feeling sick in recent months. A minister also confirmed they were poisoned to keep them out of schools.

After authorities initially launched an investigation and said there was no evidence of poison, Iran’s deputy health minister Younes Panahi implicitly confirmed in a press conference that the girls were deliberately poisoned.

"After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed,” Panahi said last Sunday. “It has been revealed that the chemical compounds used to poison students are not war chemicals, and the poisoned students do not need aggressive treatment, and a large percentage of the chemical agents used are treatable."

However, Panahi failed to provide more details about the incident and did not give further information regarding the perpetrators, even if he revealed their possible motives.

A member of the health committee of the Iranian parliament, Homayoun Sameh Najafabadi, also confirmed that the poisoning of schoolgirls in Qom and other cities in Iran was intentional.

These statements contradicted what Iran’s education minister Youssef Nouri said about the incidents, calling them “rumors” and saying that the hospitalized girls had “underlying diseases.”

Although the poisonings started in Qom in late November, other cities in Iran, including the capital, reported similar incidents, with dozens of schools being targeted and hundreds of students being hospitalized.

The victims, mostly girls, experienced symptoms of nausea, headaches, difficulty breathing, coughing, and heart palpitations.

Majid Monemi, the deputy governor of Lorestan in northwestern Iran, reported last Sunday that 50 girls at a high school in Borujerd were poisoned.

No one has been arrested for the poisoning incidents. However, local media suggest that the chain poisoning of schoolgirls has been the work of radical Shia fundamentalists who believe women should not receive an education.

The first group to claim responsibility was Fadaiyan Velayat, which published a now-deleted statement on an Iranian social media site regarding the poisonings. Another group that could be responsible for the incidents is Hezaregara Shias, according to university professor Mohammad Taqi Fazel Meybodi, who also said the group had a significant presence in Qom and Borujerd.

The Islamic Republic is working to find who caused the poisonings, according to the spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi. Chief prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri also ordered a judicial probe into the attacks.

Not surprisingly, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raiasi is blaming “foreign enemies.”

Nevertheless, the victims' parents protested against the government’s lack of action. Some also gathered outside the governorate of Qom, demanding an explanation from education officials. They also chanted slogans such as “we don’t want unsafe schools” and “schools must be secured.”

A video was also posted on Reddit showing a mother fighting an alleged supporter of the Iranian regime for saying that the poisoning was the work of Israel.

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