Continuation of Serial Poisoning of Students; 'Chemical Attack' on a Girls' School in Iranshahr

News sources reported a recurrence of poisoning among schoolgirls, this time in a village in Sistan and Baluchestan province. According to a video shared on social media on Wednesday, November 1, several students from the girls' school in the village of 'Rasoulabad Baghdaniyeh' in Iranshahr County were poisoned after inhaling toxic gases. It has been reported that some of the students were transferred to medical centers by several ambulances. Some sources described the incident as a 'chemical attack' on schools, stating that 'military forces did not allow parents and villagers to approach after the chemical attack on the school.' The serial poisoning of students, which often occurs in girls' schools, began in autumn 2022 in Qom and subsequently spread to various provinces. On Sunday, November 7, dozens of students from the Kowsar Girls' Technical School in Zanjan were hospitalized due to poisoning. Hassan Esmkhani, the public relations manager of Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, confirmed that 67 students were transferred to four hospitals in the city, claiming that the main issue for the hospitalized students was 'psychological stress and anxiety' resulting from the event. The spread of poisoning among schoolgirls in Iran has led to public protests. For instance, a group of protesters gathered in front of the Ministry of Education buildings on March 4, 2023, chanting 'Our enemy is right here; they lie that it is America.' Furthermore, as the so-called chemical attacks on schools continued, educators in 24 cities across Iran held widespread protests on May 9 against the serial poisoning of students and the inaction of the Islamic Republic authorities regarding the chemical attacks with unknown gases, which resulted in the arrest of several teacher union activists. On the other hand, the statements and reactions of Islamic Republic officials regarding the attacks with toxic gases on students have been contradictory. While the 'Fact-Finding Committee on Student Poisoning' in the Islamic Consultative Assembly denied any 'poisoning' in its final report earlier this year, attributing the poisonings to 'malingering,' 'anxiety,' and 'bad-smelling bombs,' Shahryar Heydari, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Assembly, stated that this action is a 'completely organized movement.' Additionally, in the previous year, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, described the serial poisoning of students as 'a great and unforgivable crime,' while President Ebrahim Raisi claimed that the poisonings were 'a new enemy conspiracy to create anxiety in the hearts of students and their parents and a crime against humanity' aimed at 'instigating unrest in society and causing public anxiety and fear.' The continuation of student poisonings after several months of pause comes while Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary of the Islamic Republic, had promised in recent months that if the perpetrators of the student poisonings were 'arrested,' their case would be handled 'specially and out of turn.' While the Islamic Republic officials have not provided any reports on the possible perpetrators and instigators of the chemical attacks on schools, the Ministry of Interior has previously threatened legal action against those who inform the public. Last year, a journalist in Qom was arrested for publishing reports about the poisonings, and Maryam Abbasi Nikoo, the mother of Beeta Shafiei Rad, a student who protested against these poisonings, was arrested in Shahinshahr and accused of 'slander against the Prophet.' The serial poisoning of students in recent months has provoked widespread domestic and international reactions. For instance, Abolfazl Ghadiani referred to it as a 'biological attack' and traced its origin to Khamenei's 'house,' while Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi described it as a reflection of the 'evil nature of the Islamic Republic regime.' Furthermore, Abdulhamid Ismailzahi, the Sunni Imam of Zahedan, called for the closure of schools and labeled the poisonings as 'crimes' committed by agents 'from within the system' of the Islamic Republic. A 'final' report on the reasons for the student poisonings was presented to Ghalibaf; a representative stated that some had 'malicious intent.' A member of parliament reported that hundreds were arrested during the student poisonings. New cases of 'serial poisonings' have been reported in schools in Tehran, Kermanshah, Saqqez, and Harsin. The 'chemical attacks' on schools in Iran continued a day after the publication of a report by the Ministry of Intelligence. The Ministry of Intelligence's report on the causes of the poisonings stated that they were due to 'jokes, malingering, and anti-security objectives.' The continuation of chemical attacks on schools has led the Iran Human Rights Campaign to criticize the behavior of the Islamic Republic.