Statement that confused the country: Girls were poisoned so they wouldn’t go to school

It was claimed that at least 650 students in Iran were poisoned to prevent them from going to school.

A senior Iranian official confirmed that the girls were specifically targeted. None of the girls were claimed to have lost their lives, but dozens of them were hospitalized with complaints such as respiratory problems, dizziness and fatigue.

Iranian Deputy Health Minister Yunus Panahi, who held a press conference on February 26, said: “It seems that some people want all schools to be closed, especially for girls.” “The materials used in the poison consist of products that can be found on the market,” Dr. Panahi said later that his statements were misinterpreted.

CASE START IN NOVEMBER

According to BBC Persian news, the place where the most cases are seen is the conservative city of Qom. But schoolgirls were poisoned in eight more cities across the country.

The first poisonings were observed on November 30, 2022, when 18 students from the Nur en Kum Technical High School were hospitalized. In mid-February, a protest was held outside the governor’s office in Qom, attended by at least 100 people. Some parents say their child’s recovery takes weeks.

The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died in Iran after being detained by the regime’s morality police on the grounds that she “did not wear the hijab correctly”, sparked a wave of women-led rebellion across the country. In secondary schools, female students removed their headscarves and participated in the protests.