Over 5000 Iranian According to the deputy investigating these cases, schoolchildren suffered from a series of poisonings, which were directed mainly at female students since the end of November.
Mysterious poisonings have swept through Iran, triggering a wave of anger and demands for action from the authorities.
They also sparked international concern and Western calls for an independent investigation, especially as the first cases were reported shortly after the start of nationwide protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code. code. for women.
Poisoning in Iran: 230 schools affected
Dozens of schools have been affected, with students suffering from shortness of breath to nausea and dizziness after reporting “unpleasant” odors in school premises. Some were treated in the hospital.
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“25 provinces and about 230 schools have been affected, and more than 5,000 schoolgirls and boys have been poisoned,” Mohammad-Hasan Asafari, a member of the parliamentary fact-finding committee, told the ISNA news agency on Monday.
“Various tests are being carried out to determine the type and cause of poisoning. So far, no specific information has been received regarding the type of poison used.”
Calling the poisonings an “unforgivable crime,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday ordered the perpetrators to be hunted down “without mercy.”
Last week, President Ebrahim Raisi had already instructed the Interior Ministry to keep providing updates on the investigation.
So far no arrests
The ministry has not yet announced any arrests, although new cases continue to be reported.
“Less than five percent of the students transferred to the hospital were found to have irritating materials that led to a deterioration in their health,” the ministry’s latest update on Monday said.
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“Fortunately, so far none of the students transferred to the medical centers have been found to have toxic or dangerous substances.”
The latest case, reported by the ISNA news agency, involved 40 students, all girls, in the troubled southeastern city of Zahedan.
The White House called on Monday for a “credible independent investigation” into the poisonings.
The first cases were reported in Iran’s Shiite spiritual capital of Qom in late November, a month after the Amini protests, which later spread to universities and schools.
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On Tuesday, Tehran’s prosecutor Ali Salehi warned “those who spread lies and rumors” about the poisonings that “they will be dealt with decisively and legally,” according to the judiciary’s website Mizan Online.