Students from at least 21 schools in Iran were gassed on April 24-25. According to the student monitoring group We are Iranian students (WAIS), which collects information about attacks 19 of these schools are female.
Among the educational institutions from which students with signs of poisoning were evacuated are women’s conservatories in Tehran and Hamadan and comprehensive schools in different provinces of the country.
The first reports of someone spraying unknown chemicals at girls’ schools in Iran appeared in February. The BBC investigation reported that at least 650 schoolgirls were affected. Dozens of girls have been hospitalized with symptoms such as difficulty breathing, nausea, heart palpitations and numbness in the limbs. Iran’s prosecutor general ordered an investigation, suggesting that the schoolgirls may have been poisoned intentionally. Iranian Imam Mohammad Taqi Fazel Meybodi said in an interview that the Khazarehgara religious group, which opposes women’s education, is behind the poisonings.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei later called the poisoning schoolgirls “an unforgivable crime” and demanded that those responsible be punished. In March, the country’s Interior Ministry reported on the arrest of one hundred suspects. However, according to WAIS, poisonings continued in March and April.
