Last Updated: February 27, 2023, 06:25 IST
Iran’s morality police –- often called Gasht-e Ershad, or Guidance Patrol — have a mandate to enter public areas to examine on the implementation of the strict costume code.
(File Image: Reuters)
Hundreds of instances of respiratory poisoning have been reported amongst schoolgirls primarily in Qom, south of Tehran, with some needing hospital therapy
An Iranian deputy minister on Sunday mentioned “some folks” were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls, state media reported.
Since late November, hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning have been reported among schoolgirls mainly in Qom, south of Tehran, with some needing hospital treatment.
On Sunday the deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, implicitly confirmed the poisonings had been deliberate.
“After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” the IRNA state information company quoted Panahi as saying.
He didn’t elaborate. So far, there have been no arrests linked to the poisonings.
On February 14, dad and mom of scholars who had been in poor health had gathered outdoors town’s governorate to “demand a proof” from the authorities, IRNA reported.
The next day government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the intelligence and education ministries were trying to find the cause of the poisonings.
Last week, Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri ordered a judicial probe into the incidents.
The poisonings come as Iran has been rocked by protests since the December 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini for an alleged violation of country’s strict dress code for women.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 workers and is printed from a syndicated information company feed)
