According to the news of Iran’s official agency IRNA, many of the 450 students staying in the girls’ dormitory located on Elborz Street in the city of Urmia were poisoned by a gas, the content of which has not yet been determined.
29 of the students were treated in various hospitals in the city, while the others were treated on an outpatient basis.
Cases of poisoning by female students in Iran
Mass poisoning cases in schools in Iran since November 30, 2022 draw attention. It is stated that more than a thousand students were poisoned in approximately 100 days in the provinces of Kum, Loristan, Tehran, Ardebil, Kermanshah, Simnan, Mazenderan, Cheharmahal and Bakhtiari, Elburz and Rezevi Khorasan. The students show symptoms such as respiratory distress, nausea, headache and numbness in the limbs.
Aliriza Monadi Sefidan, Chairman of the Parliamentary Education, Research and Technology Commission, who is working on poisoning cases whose cause has not yet been clearly explained, said, “According to the follow-up and test results, it was determined that N2 (nitrogen) gas was found in the poison used in schools.” had made a statement.
Iranian Deputy Minister of Education and Training Yunus Penahi stated at a press conference on February 26 that they evaluated the poisoning of the students as intentional, “It was determined that some people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed.” he said.
The President of the Republic appointed Minister of Interior Ahmed Vahidi, Minister of Intelligence İsmail Hatib and Minister of Health Bahram Eynullahi on 1 March to investigate suspected poisoning incidents.
According to the claims of the opponents of the regime, there are some radical groups within the Iranian administration who want to avenge the Mahsa Emini demonstrations led by women.
Sources close to the Tehran administration, on the other hand, claim that anti-regime elements aiming to incite the people against the administration are behind the incident.
Mahsa Emini shows
Mahsa Emini, 22, died on September 16, 2022 in Tehran, the capital of Iran, after being taken into custody by the Irshad patrols known as the “morality police”, and taken to the hospital after getting sick.
The demonstrations that started on 17 September 2022 in Sakkız, his hometown after Emini’s death, spread throughout the country and turned into anti-government protests.
Nearly 500 demonstrators were killed in the months-long events, and more than a hundred security personnel lost their lives.