Iran: Over 100 Arrested in Drugged Schoolgirls Case
A young woman bedridden in hospital after reports of poisoning at an unspecified location in Iran, in this still image from video from March 2, 2023. (File photo)< /p>
More than 100 people have been arrested in Iran in connection with the mysterious girl's school poisoning case, which has caused a stir in the country, authorities said.
More than 100 people suspected of being responsible for the incidents in schools have been identified, arrested and interrogated, the Interior Ministry said in a statement carried by the official Irna news agency.
The ministry did not give details of these people, who were arrested in several provinces, including Tehran and Qom in the north, East and West Azerbaijan in the northwest, or in those of Kurdistan and Hamadan in the west.
But he specifies that, among those arrested, some had hostile motives with the objective of instilling a climate of fear among students and closing schools. He discusses possible links with terrorist organizations, citing the People's Mojahedin (MEK), an exile movement based in Albania.
The statement welcomes that, fortunately, since the middle of last week, the number of incidents has decreased noticeably and that there have been no new cases of sick students.
Since the start of the case at the end of November, many schools, mostly girls, have been affected by sudden intoxications with gases or toxic substances which have caused fainting and fainting sometimes leading to hospitalizations for children. #x27;students.
In total, the authorities have listed more than 5,000 affected students in some 230 schools in 25 of the country's 31 provinces.
Faced with the multiplication of cases, parents of students and residents mobilized to express their concern and call on the authorities to act.
On March 6, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spoke out calling for harsh sentences, including the death penalty, for those found responsible for the poisonings. #x27;he called them unforgivable crimes.
The case began two x months after the beginning of the protest movement sparked in Iran by the death on September 16 of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by the morality police who accused her of having broken the strict dress code imposing in particular on women the wearing of veil.
