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Some people were poisoning schoolgirls in Iran’s holy city of Qom with the aim of shutting down education for girls, reported the state media quoting an Iranian deputy minister as saying on Sunday. 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.
The deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, implicitly confirmed on Sunday that the poisonings were deliberate, reported news agency AFP.
“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 news agency quoted Panahi as saying.
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He did not elaborate on the matter, however the report stated that no arrests were made in connection with the incident.
On February 14, parents of students who had been ill had gathered outside the city’s governorate to “demand an explanation” 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.
Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri had last week ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
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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 the country’s strict dress code for women.
The country saw widespread protests with women burning their hijabs and thousands of people taking to the streets to protest against the Iranian government. Several other countries also came out in solidarity with Iranian women.
Earlier this month, Iran’s supreme leader had pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners, including some who were arrested during recent anti-government protests after a deadly state crackdown helped quell the nationwide unrest.
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