Iranian leader calls poisoning of girls ‘unforgivable’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme leader said Monday that if a series of alleged poisonings at girls’ schools were found to be deliberate, those responsible should be sentenced to death for having committed an “unpardonable crime”.

It was the first time Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say in all state affairs, publicly mentioned the alleged poisonings, which began late last year and have sickened hundreds of girls.

Iranian authorities only admitted to the phenomenon a few weeks ago and offered no details on who might be behind the attacks or what products, if any, might have been used. Unlike neighboring Afghanistan, Iran has no history of religious extremist attacks on women’s education.

“If the poisoning of the students is proven, the perpetrators of this crime should be sentenced to death and there will be no amnesty for them,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

Authorities have acknowledged alleged attacks on more than 50 schools in 21 of the country’s 30 provinces since November.

Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said over the weekend that researchers had collected “suspicious samples”, without giving further details. He called on people to remain calm and accused unidentified enemies of stoking fear to undermine the Islamic republic.

Vahidi said at least 52 schools were suspected of being poisoned, while Iranian media gave the figure of more than 60 centers. At least one boys’ school was reportedly affected.

Videos of worried parents and daughters in emergency rooms with IVs in their arms filled social media.

Iran has imposed severe restrictions on independent media since nationwide protests erupted in September, making it difficult to determine the nature and extent of the alleged poisonings.

Authorities have arrested Qom-based journalist Ali Pourtabatabaei, who had regularly reported on the alleged poisonings, Iranian media reported on Monday. The conservative daily Kayhan had called in an editorial for the arrest of editors who published articles on the crisis criticizing the Iranian theocracy.

The protests began following the death of a woman who had been detained by Iran’s vice police, allegedly for breaking the country’s strict dress code. There are precedents of attacks by Iranian religious conservatives against women who they claim do not dress modestly in public. But even at the height of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, women and girls continued to attend schools and universities.

Affected girls have reported headaches, heart palpitations, feelings of lethargy, or an inability to move. Some said they noticed a smell of tangerine, chlorine or cleaning products.

Reports suggest at least 400 schoolchildren have fallen ill since November. Vahidi, the interior minister, said in his statement that two girls remained in hospital with previous chronic problems. No deaths have been reported.

On Sunday, as more attacks were reported, videos circulated on social media in which girls complained of leg and abdominal pain and dizziness. State media mostly described it as “hysterical reactions.”

The World Health Organization documented a similar phenomenon in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, when hundreds of girls across the country reported strange smells and poisonings. No evidence was found to support the suspicions, and the WHO said they were “mass psychogenic illnesses”.