Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that poisoning schoolgirls is an “unforgivable” crime and authorities should rigorously pursue the incident and punish the perpetrators with capital punishment if it had been done deliberately.
The statement comes amid public anger over the poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls in several provinces.
Over 1,000 schoolgirls have fallen ill since November
Over 1,000 schoolgirls have fallen ill after being poisoned since November, according to the state media and officials, with a few politicians blaming religious groups, opposed to girls’ education for the egregious act.
The poisoning of schoolgirls comes at a critical juncture for Iran’s ruling clergy after months of protests since the death of a young Kurdish-Irani woman in police custody after she flouted hijab rules.
“Authorities should seriously pursue the issue of students’ poisoning Khamenei was quoted as saying by state TV. “If it is proven deliberate, the perpetrators of this inexcusable crime should be sentenced to capital punishment,” he said.
The poisonings started in November in the holy city of Qom and spread to 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces, prompting parents to take their children out of school and stage protests.
Iranian authorities blame the country’s “enemies” for the act, aiming to undermine the clerical establishment. But suspicions have fallen on hardline groups operating as self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden‘s press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the poisoning of schoolgirls shameful.
“The possibility that schoolgirls in Iran are being possibly poisoned simply for trying to get an education is shameful, and it is unacceptable,” Jean-Pierre said at a news briefing in Washington.
