Iran: School-going Girls Poisoned In Qom City To Prevent Them From Studying

In order to stop girls from going to school, some people  were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom, said  Iranian deputy minister on Sunday. Since late November, hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning among schoolgirls, mostly in Qom, south of Tehran, have been recorded; some of these cases required hospitalisation. Younes Panahi, the deputy health minister, hinted that the poisonings were intentional on Sunday.

According to Panahi, who was reported by the Iranian state news agency IRNA, "it was found that certain people wanted to close all schools, especially girls' schools, after the poisoning of several students in Qom schools."    No one has been taken into custody in connection to the poisonings thus far he said.  IRNA reported that on February 14, parents of ill students gathered in front of the city's governorate to "demand an answer" from the authorities.

The intelligence and education ministries are reportedly looking for the reason behind the poisonings, as per government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi the next day. Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri requested a judicial investigation into the incidents last week.

The poisonings occur while Iran is experiencing turmoil following the death in custody on December 16 of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, for allegedly breaking the nation's strict dress code for women.