Iran Shocker: Hundreds of girls being deliberately poisoned to stop female schooling in Qom, says minister

Qom: The Deputy Health Minister of Iran, Younes Panahi, on Sunday indicated that 'certain people' in holy city of Qom were deliberately poisoning schoolgirls to restrain education for female students, as per reports by the Iranian state media.

"After the poisoning of several students in Qom schools, it was found that some people wanted all schools, especially girls' schools, to be closed," the state news agency, IRNA, quoted Panahi as saying.

"It has been revealed that the chemical compounds used to poison students are not war chemicals, and the poisoned students do not need aggressive treatment, and a large percentage of the chemical agents used are treatable," he told a press conference as per Iran International.

The schools in Qom reportedly started presenting with hundreds of respiratory poisoning cases since November 30, where some students even had to be hospitalised.

The victims were showing symptoms such as nausea, headaches, coughing, difficulty breathing, heart palpitations, and lethargy, reported Iran international. The report also stated that the girls fell ill after an aroma resembling tangerines filled the air in the classrooms.

The issue came to light on February 14, after several parents of students who had taken ill demonstrated outside the Qom governorate, asking the authorities to give get an explanation, IRNA reported.

The mass poisonings caused a public scare in November and the schools across Qom had to be shut down for two days. No arrests have been made in the matter so far, say media reports.