Mahaz News
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Concern is rising in Iran after studies emerged that tons of of schoolgirls had been poisoned throughout the nation in latest months.
On Wednesday, Iran’s semi-official Mehr News reported that Shahriar Heydari, a member of Parliament, cited an unnamed “reliable source” in saying that “nearly 900 students” from throughout the nation had been poisoned thus far.
The first reported poisonings occurred within the metropolis of Qom on November 30, when 18 schoolgirls from one highschool had been hospitalized, in keeping with Iranian state media. In one other incident in Qom on February 14, greater than 100 college students from 13 colleges had been taken to hospitals after what the state-affiliated Tasnim news company described as “serial poisonings.”
There have additionally been studies of schoolgirls being poisoned within the capital Tehran – the place 35 had been hospitalized on Tuesday, in keeping with Fars News. They had been in “good” situation, and lots of of them had been later launched, Fars reported. State media have additionally reported scholar poisonings in latest months within the metropolis of Borujerd and in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province.
Many of the studies contain college students at ladies’ colleges, however state media have additionally reported not less than one incident of poisoning at a boys’ faculty, on February 4 in Qom.
Mahaz News has reached out to one of many colleges named by state media as having had an incident of poisoning, Noor Yazdanshahr Conservatory in Qom, in addition to to particular person lecturers, however has not heard again.
Iranian Health Minister Bahram Einollahi, who visited affected college students in Qom, mentioned on February 15 that the signs included muscle weak spot, nausea, and tiredness, however that the “poisoning” was delicate, in keeping with a report in state media outlet Iranian Students News Agency.
Einollahi mentioned his workforce had taken many samples from sufferers admitted to 1 Qom hospital for additional testing at Iran’s famend Pasteur Institute, which reported that no microbes or viruses had been recognized within the samples, in keeping with ISNA.
It’s unclear if the incidents are linked and if the scholars had been focused. But Iran’s Deputy Health Minister in control of Research and Technology Younes Panahi mentioned on February 26 that the poisonings had been “chemical” in nature, however not compound chemical substances utilized in warfare and the signs weren’t contagious, in keeping with IRNA.
Panahi added that it seems that the poisonings had been deliberate makes an attempt at concentrating on and shutting down ladies’ colleges, in keeping with IRNA.
“After the poisoning of several students in Qom … it became clear that people wanted all schools, especially girls’ schools, to be closed,” Younes Panahi informed a news convention Sunday, in keeping with Iranian state media outlet IRNA. He later retracted the remark, saying he was misquoted, Fars news mentioned.
But a mom of two ladies in Qom informed Mahaz News that each of her daughters had been poisoned, at two completely different colleges, and certainly one of them had skilled important well being points after being poisoned final week. She spoke on the situation of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the studies, and fears for her household’s security.
“One of my daughters was poisoned in school last week,” the mom informed Mahaz News on Tuesday. She mentioned they spent two days at Shahid Beheshti Hospital in Qom together with a number of different schoolchildren and employees. Her daughter skilled nausea, shortness of breath and numbness in her left leg and proper hand, she mentioned.
“Now she has trouble with her right foot and has difficulty walking,” the mom mentioned.
Local activists and nationwide political figures have referred to as for the federal government to do extra in investigating the poisonings.
“The poisoning of students at girls’ schools, which have been confirmed as deliberate acts, was neither arbitrary nor accidental,” tweeted Mohammad Habibi, spokesman for the Iranian Teachers Trade Association on February 26.
Habibi is amongst a rising quantity of people that consider that the poisonings could also be linked to the latest protests below the “Women, Life, Freedom” motion. The motion has been characterised by girls’s and younger ladies’ outpouring of anger over points starting from freedoms within the Islamic Republic to the crippling state of the financial system.
“To erase the gains on freedom of clothing, (the authorities) need to increase public fear,” he tweeted.
United States Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price referred to as the studies of poisoning schoolgirls “very disturbing,” throughout a briefing Wednesday.
“We’ve seen these reports, these are very disturbing, these are very concerning reports,” Price mentioned.”To poison ladies who’re merely making an attempt to be taught is just an abhorrent act.”
Price urged “Iranian authorities to thoroughly investigate these reported poisonings and do everything they can to stop them and to hold accountable the perpetrators.”
In mid-February Tasnim reported that Iran’s Minister of Education, Yousef Noori, mentioned “most” of the scholars’ situations had been attributable to “rumors that have scared people,” and that “there is no problem.” He mentioned that some college students had been hospitalized attributable to “underlying conditions,” in keeping with Tasnim.
Dan Kaszeta, a London based mostly protection specialist and an affiliate fellow on the Royal United Services Institute, spoke to Mahaz News in regards to the difficulties authorities might face in confirming studies like these.
“Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to investigate such incidents. Often, the only way to discover the causative agent is to collect samples at the time of dissemination, and this is usually difficult or impossible,” he mentioned.
“These current incidents in Iran are remarkably similar to dozens of incidents at schools in Afghanistan since approximately 2009. In a few of these incidents, pesticides were strongly suspected, but most of the illnesses remain unexplained,” he added.
Kaszeta went on to clarify that smells are troublesome to make use of as an indicator. “Some things have smell added to them as the underlying dangerous chemical may be odorless.”
Jamileh Kadivar, a distinguished Iranian politician and former member of parliament, additionally believes that there’s malicious intent behind the poisonings. “The continuity and frequency of poisonings in schools during the past three months proves that these incidents cannot be accidental and are most likely the result of organized group actions directed by think tanks and aimed at specific goals,” she wrote in an Op-Ed in Iran’s state-run newspaper Etelaat.
Iranian Education Minister Yousef Nouri visited a number of the college students who had been hospitalized in Qom after the string of faculty poisonings in mid-February, and mentioned {that a} particular workforce had been fashioned in Tehran to comply with up on the difficulty, in keeping with a report in Tasnim, a state-affiliated media outlet.
Iran’s nationwide police chief, Ahmadreza Radan, mentioned on February 28 they’re investigating the trigger behind the “poisonings” and that nobody has been arrested with the authorities nonetheless making an attempt to find out whether or not the alleged poisonings are intentional or not, in keeping with IRNA.
Source web site: www.cnn.com
