Ajit Karn
At least 10 Iranian Girls’ Schools Affected By Gas Attacks
Tehran: More than 100 students were hospitalised in Iran on Wednesday after a new wave of suspected gas attacks on girls’ institutions, according to Iranian media outlets.
Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been documented among Iranian schoolgirls over the past three months, which a government official believes may be an attempt to force the closure of girls’ schools.
At least ten girls’ schools were allegedly attacked on Wednesday, seven in the city of Ardabil in the country’s northwest and three in Tehran, according to media reports.
The incident in Ardabil resulted in the hospitalisation of 108 students in stable condition, according to the Tasnim news agency, which also reported poisonings at three Tehran institutions.
Fars news agency reported, citing parents, that pupils at a high school in Tehransar, a western neighbourhood of the capital, were exposed to a toxic discharge. It did not expand.
Fars reported that the security forces had detained three individuals in the first arrests reported in connection with the spate of suspected poisoning attacks on schools for girls.
Since the outbreak of the enigmatic poisonings in November, nearly 1,200 students have been hospitalised for respiratory problems, according to a lawmaker on Wednesday.
They included nearly 800 cases in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, and 400 cases in the city of Borujerd, according to Zahra Sheikhi, a spokesperson for the health committee of the Iranian parliament.
According to the website of the Iranian parliament, tests conducted by the Health Ministry on the substance discovered in Qom schools detected traces of nitrogen, which is primarily used in fertilisers.
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The poisonings have sparked a surge of outrage in the country, with critics condemning the government’s silence in the face of an increasing number of affected institutions.
Younes Panahi, Iran’s deputy health minister, stated on Sunday that some individuals were poisoned in Qom with the intent of halting education for females.
Activists have compared the perpetrators of the school attacks to the Taliban in Afghanistan and Boko Haram in the Sahel, both of which oppose the education of females.
