ISLAMABAD/DUBAI: Parents of allegedly poisoned girls staged protest demonstrations in Tehran and other cities on Saturday after several schoolgirls were admitted to hospitals.
Dozens of schoolgirls were admitted to hospitals after they were allegedly poisoned by unidentified officials.
Iranian officials claimed that ‘foreign enemies’ may have poisoned the schoolgirls to tarnish the country’s image in the world. The country’s health minister earlier said the schoolgirls had suffered “mild poison” attacks while some politicians suggested that the girls could have been targeted by hardline groups opposing girls’ education.
Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli confirmed on Saturday that investigators had found “suspicious samples” that were being studied. He said that in field studies, suspicious samples had been found, which are being investigated to determine the causes of the girls’ illness. He claimed that the results of the findings will be published at the earliest.
The poisoning affected over 30 schools in at least 10 provinces of Iran. Videos posted on social media showed aggrieved parents gathered outside schools to take their children home and some students being rushed to hospitals by ambulances and buses.
Parents gathered outside the education ministry building in western Tehran on Saturday to stage a protest over the poisoning, according to a video verified by Reuters.
“Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh,” the protesters shouted, likening Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to the terror Islamic State group.
Protests break out in several cities
Similar protests also break out in two other areas in the capital and other cities including Isfahan and Rasht. The poisoning of schoolgirl sickness comes at a critical time for Iran’s clergy, who have been facing months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Irani-Kurdish girl in police custody in September last year.
Social media posts in recent days had shown photos and videos of schoolgirls who have fallen ill, feeling nauseous and suffering from heart palpitations. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva meanwhile, called for a transparent probe into the suspected poisoning. Countries including Germany and the United States have also voiced concern over the attacks.
Iran rejected it claiming it “foreign meddling and hasty reactions” and said that it was probing the causes of the incidents. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told state media that it was one of the immediate priorities of the government to pursue the issue at the earliest and provide documented information to the families and hold accountable the perpetrators and the causes.
Schoolgirls had been active in the anti-government protests that began in September last year. The girls removed their mandatory headscarves in classrooms, torn up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for his death.
