Last Update: February 27, 2023, 06:25 IST
Iran’s morality police – known as Gasht-e Ershad, or Guidance Patrol – have a mandate to enter public areas to check implementation of strict dress codes. (File Image: Reuters)
Hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning have been reported, mainly among schoolgirls in Qom, south of Tehran, some of whom have needed hospital treatment.
An Iranian deputy minister said on Sunday that “some people” were poisoning schoolgirls in the holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down girls’ education, state media reported.
Since late November, there have been hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning, mainly among schoolgirls in Qom, south of Tehran, some of which have required hospital treatment.
On Sunday, Deputy Health Minister Yunus Panahi apparently confirmed that the poisoning was deliberate.
“After it was found that several students in Qom schools were poisoned, some wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” IRNA state news agency quoted Panahi as saying.
He didn’t elaborate. So far no one has been arrested in connection with the poisoning.
IRNA reported that on 14 February, parents of the ill students gathered outside the city’s governorate to “demand an explanation” from the authorities.
The next day government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said that the Ministry of Intelligence and Education were trying to determine the cause of the poisoning.
Last week, Prosecutor General Mohamed Jaafar Montazeri ordered a judicial inquiry into the incidents.
Iran has been gripped by poisoning since the 16 December death in custody of 22-year-old Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)