The suspected poison attacks on Iranian girls

A spate of mysterious suspected poisonings affecting schoolgirls is gripping Iran, with Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, declaring them “unforgivable crimes” that would be punishable by death.

The suspected poisonings began in late November after the Masha Amini protests, which saw widespread anger at the suspicious death of the 22-year-old who had been arrested by the Iranian “morality police”. They have “affected more than 5,000 students at some 230 schools across 25 of the country's 31 provinces”, reported DW, adding that it is mainly affected schoolgirls. Others put the number affected at closer to 1,000.

Iran’s deputy interior minister, Majid Mirahmadi, told state media that several arrests had been made in six provinces in connection to the apparent poisonings and that intelligence agencies would be “conducting a full investigation”.

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Why would schoolgirls be targeted?

Despite Khamenei’s condemnation on Monday, many activists “suspect the regime is itself directly or tacitly responsible, particularly in light of the violent crackdown on the largely women-led protests” last year, said the New York Magazine.

“Nobody believes that it is coincidence that it has followed the protests,” Deepa Parent, a human rights journalist, told The Guardian. Iranian activists believe it’s a form of “revenge”, she said.

The interior ministry, meanwhile, is claiming some of the arrested suspects had ties to “foreign-based dissident media” and that some had participated in the protests themselves.

“Some politicians have nevertheless suggested the poisonings may have been carried out by religious groups opposed to educating girls,” said DW.

Girls’ education is widely accepted in Iran, but Parent noted that there are “radical Islamists there who are against it”. It is “possible that extremists are taking advantage of the febrile political situation to act on their longstanding misogynistic view of women’s education”, said the Guardian.

What is causing the symptoms?

The “mysterious attacks” have left victims “with symptoms ranging from headaches, dizziness, nausea, fainting and even loss of control of their limbs”, said France 24. This has “sparked fear and desperation in parents and schoolchildren alike, with many parents keeping their children home from school”, added the site.

Suspicious samples have apparently been sent for analysis and the health ministry has said “some of the students were exposed to an irritant substance that is mainly inhaled”. However, Mirahmadi had previously said: “Over 99% of this is caused by stress, rumours and psychological war, started particularly by hostile TV channels, to create a troubled and stressful situation for students and their parents.”

Outside Iran, chemical-weapons experts said “the symptoms certainly could be the result of exposure to chemical or biological agents, but most have emphasised that there isn’t enough information to conclude what those agents could have been”, reported New York Magazine. “Some have also noted that the symptoms could have a sociogenic origin – caused by stress rather than poison or some other irritant or biological factor.”

What’s the response internationally?

The UN has called for a transparent investigation, and countries including Germany and the US have voiced concern, said Sky News.

Khamenei’s latest response seems “contradictory”, added The Guardian, as journalists have been detained for opposing the previous view of the Iranian government that the poisonings were a “psychological event”.

What next?

Widespread protests have begun in the country, according to Iran International. Outside the ministry of education, protestors asked for more security for girls’ schools, but they were met with tear gas from “regime agents”.

In a protest at the religious city of Mashhad, people called for the resignation of government officials for their handling of the poisonings and the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Association gathered on Tuesday to stand in “solidarity with the girls”, said the site.