Authorities urge swift probe after schoolgirls’ poisonings in Iran
Iranian authorities stepped up efforts to clear up mystery after hundreds of schoolgirls and female university students were poisoned in several cities.
President Ebrahim Raeisi said Friday he had ordered interior and intelligence ministers to launch an immediate investigation into serial poisonings at schools and dormitories and quickly publicize the result.
Raeisi warned that the enemy was using the issue to “create terror, insecurity and despair” among students.
Since late November, hundreds of cases of respiratory poisoning have been reported among schoolgirls in Qom. The poisonings spread to at least seven other cities including the capital Tehran, with some pupils needing hospital treatment.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf ordered a fact-finding committee to be set up “urgently” by four legislative committees to probe poisonings.
Iran’s human rights chief calls on security and judicial authorities to swiftly identify those behind the mysterious poisonings.
“The High Council for Human Rights has been seriously pursuing the clarification of the poisoning of students,” Kazem Gharibabadi, who chairs the top rights body, tweeted Friday.