Iran has announced the first arrests it is investigating into the spate of poisonings that have affected thousands of schoolgirls in recent weeks.
New to drunk schoolgirls in Iran. Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi said on state television on Tuesday that “several people” had been “arrested in five provinces, based on intelligence investigations.”
He did not provide details of their identity, the circumstances of their arrest and their alleged involvement.
These arrests come as parents of students were mobilized more than three months after the first poisoning cases to call for action by the authorities.
5,000 students affected
The day before, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had intervened to call for “severe punishments” against those found guilty of what he called “unforgivable crimes”.
A total of “more than 5,000 students” in “about 230 schools” in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces have been affected since the end of November, said Mohammad-Hassan Asafari, a member of the responsible parliamentary investigation commission, on Tuesday to shed light on the causes of this wave of poisoning.
Each time, the same phenomenon repeats itself: Pupils from girls’ schools breathe in “unpleasant” or “unfamiliar” odors and then show symptoms such as nausea, shortness of breath and dizziness. “Suddenly there was a very bad smell, I felt bad and fell on the floor,” said a schoolgirl.
“No Hazardous Materials” detected
Some of these students are hospitalized briefly, but none have been seriously affected. “No dangerous substance was found in those examined in the medical centers,” the Interior Ministry said.
MP Mohammad-Hassan Asafari clarified that the “tests carried out for identification” could not identify these substances with certainty.
On Sunday, Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi accused the “perpetrators of the girl poisoning” of wanting to “close the schools” but also “blame the system” to “rekindle the flame extinguished by the riots.”
political motives?
The deputy minister was referring to the protest movement triggered in Iran by the death on September 16 of the young woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the Morality Police and accused her of violating the strict dress code, which imposes the headscarf on women in particular .
President Ebrahim Raïssi, for his part, called on the state services to “defeat the enemy’s conspiracy” which “wants to sow fear, insecurity and despair”.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States called for “a credible and independent investigation” on Monday. “If these poisonings are linked to participation in protests, then it falls squarely within the mandate of the United Nations independent fact-finding mission,” established in November to investigate human rights violations in Iran, said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean -Pierre.
Last week, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights also called for “a transparent investigation” and public statements.