Three weeks after the last poisoning of schoolgirls in Iran, another incident has occurred at a school in Tabriz, in the northwest of the country. 20 schoolgirls were taken to hospital with shortness of breath, the state news agency IRNA reported on Tuesday.
None of the girls are in any life-threatening condition, the chief of the local emergency department, Asghar Jafari, told Irna. The incident happened two days after the schoolgirls returned from a two-week vacation for the Nowruz Spring Festival.
Poisoning of girls is on the rise
Since the end of November, poisonings in girls’ schools in Iran have been reported again and again. Thousands of schoolgirls developed symptoms such as nausea and shortness of breath after noticing “unpleasant” odors on school grounds. Some fainted or had to be hospitalized.
More than 5,000 schoolgirls in more than 230 institutions in 25 of the country’s 31 provinces have been affected since November, according to official figures. In early March, Iran reported that it had arrested more than 100 people in connection with the poisoning. In view of the accumulation of cases, the parents of the affected students demonstrated and called on the government to act.
Women demand more rights
The mass poisonings came two months after nationwide protests for more women’s rights and democratic reforms began. These were triggered by the death of young Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by the vice squad for wearing an improper headscarf.
Source: Krone
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