Dozens of schoolgirls poisoned again in Iran | Abroad

At least “60 students have been poisoned at a girls’ school in Haftkel,” according to the Iribnews news agency. Haftkel is located in the southwestern province of Khuzestan. Students have also been poisoned in five schools in northwestern Ardabil. The girls showed “symptoms of anxiety, shortness of breath and headache”.

An “unknown number” of primary school students were also found in Urmia following a gas incident, according to the Ilna agency. State television on Friday quoted MP Hamidreza Kazemi, who heads the commission in charge of the affair. According to Kazemi, the final report of that committee will be published in the coming weeks.

For months Iran has been plagued by mysterious poisonings in schools. The first cases were reported in November and meanwhile, according to Iranian media, there are thousands of incidents. An official balance sheet Friday showed more than 5,000 students in more than 230 schools in 25 provinces of the country’s 31.

The Iranian government assumes that the attacks are targeted, because almost exclusively girls’ schools are affected. Schoolgirls are being treated in hospitals across the country. Parents and relatives are furious, also because there is still no official explanation, and more safety for school children was demanded during demonstrations.

The incidents have put further pressure on the Iranian government after protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died on September 16 last year after being captured by vice police, resulted in the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

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