A group of extremists in Qom has distributed threatening leaflets, declaring that girls’ education is forbidden and vowing to spread the poisoning of high school girls to schools across Iran.
This comes after over 400 students, mostly high school girls, have been treated for poisoning symptoms since December. Despite the determination by medical staff that a microbial gas caused the poisoning, intelligence agencies have silenced the issue.
There have been recent incidents of respiratory poisoning in Tehran. The continued poisoning of high school girls in Qom sparked protests by families demanding a transparent investigation.
Extremist group claims responsibility for the poisoning of high school girls in Qom
On February 18, a group of extremists in Qom, known as Fadayeen-e Velayat (suicidal supporters of Khamenei), distributed leaflets declaring that it is forbidden for girls to study and that their education is tantamount to waging war on the 12th Shiite Imam. The group has threatened to spread the poisoning of girls to schools across Iran if girls’ schools are not shut down. Fadayeen-e Velayat has previously carried out attacks under the orders of Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the mullahs’ supreme leader.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect Maryam Rajavi had already declared that “Female students’ chain poisoning in Qom over 3 months, now in Tehran, is no accident but a systematic crime driven by a misogynistic regime’s malicious intent. Iranian girls’ role in the uprising has doubled the regime’s hysteria.” She urged for an international investigation.
In another tweet on Monday, February 20, she said, “Catastrophic poisoning of high school girls in Qom continues as regime’s prosecutor acknowledges possibility of deliberate criminal actions. Like acid attacks in Isfahan, implicates #IRGC, Intelligence, and other official agencies.”
The poisoning of high school girls in Qom started in December
The poisoning of high school girls in Qom began in December. Since then, more than 400 students have been treated for symptoms such as nausea, headaches, coughing, breathing difficulties, and heart palpitations. The majority of the affected students are high school girls from Qom.
On Sunday, February 19, 2023, another 11 students from a high school in Qom were hospitalized due to respiratory symptoms and nausea. (The state-run Fars news agency – February 19, 2023)
Medical staff silenced by intelligence services
Medical staff treating the poisoned students in Qom have identified the type of poisoning as caused by a microbial gas. However, the issue was silenced after two intelligence agencies intervened. At Vali Asr Hospital in Qom, where some of the poisoned students are being treated, members of IRGC intelligence are present, as reported by a source to RFE/RL (Radio Farda). The source also claimed that the intelligence agency takes the results of the children’s blood tests to their own laboratory, and the staff is unaware of what is happening.
Poisoning of high school girls in Tehran
Some 30 students of one of Tehran’s girls’ high schools got respiratory poisoning and went to the hospital on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. (The state-run Hamshahri newspaper – February 14, 2023)
According to the students at the girls’ high school in Tehran’s Monirieh District, “Around 9 o’clock, there was a smell in the air of the class, the whole class was almost suffocating. We all came out. Little by little, they came out from the rest of the classes. The whole building was full. The smell was like pepper spray or tear gas because some of the students’ eyes were burning.”
Another report from the same school stated: “Today in the school, everyone felt bad after a gas was released. Many fainted, yet the school deputies wanted to force the students back to the class! The police came sooner than the ambulances.”
Families protest
On February 14, families of the affected students protested outside the governor’s office in Qom, slamming the authorities for failing to find the cause of the poisonings. They also called on authorities to ensure the safety of their children and hold online classes.
“We don’t want unsafe schools,” they chanted, demanding a transparent investigation.
