Family members of schoolgirls who showed symptoms of mysterious poisoning protested outside the office of the governor of the religious city of Qom in Iran on Tuesday. Some of the students had to be hospitalized for more than a week due to the severity of their symptoms, but the majority were released within hours
Hundreds protested in Iran after the mysterious poisoning of hundreds of schoolgirls. About 200 female students and at least one teacher in 12 different girls’ schools have reported symptoms such as nausea, headaches, coughing, difficulty breathing, heart problems, since November 30, when 18 female high school students developed similar symptoms. Two weeks later, 51 female students at the same school got sick again.
The Department of Education was forced to close all schools in the religious city of Qom for two days last week, after several other schools were damaged, causing public panic. When students returned on Sunday after a weekend, 37 girls in three different schools fell ill again, the Iran International TV channel reported
In a commentary by Nafisa Moradi, a researcher of Islamic studies at Al-Zahra University in Tehran, he speculated that ultra-religious groups with beliefs similar to those of the Taliban in Afghanistan may be behind the mysterious poisonings.
Feb. 10, 14 – Qom, north central #Iran
The families of girl students who were poisoned while in school rallied outside the Governor’s office today.
Numerous students in a at least 12 girls’ schools were poisoned with an unknown gas in the past weeks in Qom. pic.twitter.com/1A5LnPI1i9— Iran News Wire (@IranNW) February 14, 2023
Moradi said the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education may have inspired clerics in the city of Qom to carry out attacks on girls’ schools to instill fear in female students and their families with the ultimate goal of keeping them at home. He advised the authorities to hold online classes until the perpetrators of the poisoning are located.
Some of the students had to be hospitalized for more than a week due to the severity of their symptoms, but the majority were released within hours. In some cases, the symptoms lasted for weeks. “We don’t want unsafe schools, the schools must be secured, the governor answered us,” hundreds of protesters chanted while calling the governor a “crook” for not investigating and addressing the poisoning of a number of schoolgirls.
The city of Qom with a population of over 1.2 million is home to most of Iran’s religious institutions. “You must ensure the safety of our children,” shouts one of the parents in a video posted on social media while others cheer him on. According to him, his solution to the problem is not to send his children to school anymore. So far, the authorities have not found the cause of the mysterious illness.
The deputy head of Qom University of Medical Sciences, Dr. Majed Mohabi, told the Revolutionary Guard-linked Tasnim news agency on Monday that MRI and other tests performed on the affected female students came out normal, and nothing was detected in the samples taken from them. He also emphasized that the cause of the disease There can be no carbon monoxide poisoning from the heating systems.
The Tasnim news agency and other state media refrain from mentioning that the mysterious poisonings only occur in girls’ schools, but many believe that it may be an intentional act aimed at female students. According to the Come News website, the authorities tried to censor the media reporting on the incidents and the reason for them. Mujtaba Zolnuri, a Kom representative in the parliament, said that there is no doubt that the poisonings are intentional and “a matter of national security.”