Iranian Govt Blames Protest Leaders for 'Poisoning Attacks'

Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls across Iran (AFP)
Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls across Iran (AFP)
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Iranian Govt Blames Protest Leaders for 'Poisoning Attacks'

Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls across Iran (AFP)
Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls across Iran (AFP)

The Iranian government accused the protest leaders of the mystery poisoning incidents in schools, affecting thousands of female students.

Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi blamed the protesters for creating tensions in girls' schools and a tense atmosphere, but they failed.

Asked about the investigation of the follow-up committee ordered by the Iranian president, the spokesman said that the situation has stabilized in schools, adding that these brutal attacks revealed the truth about some people who claim to support and develop women.

Judiciary Spokesman Masoud Setayeshi criticized the description of the attacks as "poisoning," saying it was better to use a term that describes the deterioration in health. He indicated that poisoning must have determined symptoms identified by the specialized laboratories.

Setayeshi said that the authorities arrested eight people in the southern Fars governorate in connection with the attacks that began at the end of November.

He added that the investigation results would be announced, asserting that those who threaten the security of the people will face the most severe penalties.

Meanwhile, senior officials used the word "poisoning," including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, when referring to the incidents.

Khamenei said on Monday that poisoning schoolgirls are an "unforgivable" crime that should be punished by death if deliberate.

Iranian official sources said that the mysterious cases of poisoning in the country amounted to 13,000 suspected cases, including 100 young schoolgirls, who are now receiving treatment in hospitals, according to Tasnim news agency affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Last Saturday, the Human Rights Committee of the Iranian judiciary said in a report that less than 10 percent of the female students were infected with an irritant of dangerous and non-lethal war gases.

Furthermore, a member of the parliamentary fact-finding committee, Mohammed Hasan Asafari, said that the main culprits in the case had not been arrested, noting that some of the poisonings were due to the use of "naphthalene" and "aluminum phosphide.",

Asafari that some cases were due to the students' attempts to disrupt the school day, noting that 100 persons have been arrested, including students.

He told the state-run ISNA news agency that some detainees were linked to the recent protests that rocked the country after the death of a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while in the custody of morality police.

The lawmaker said that the involvement of the foreign intelligence services is still not apparent, and the matter is under investigation.

Asfari confirmed the attacks dropped after the Supreme Leader's speech last week.

On Monday, the Interior Ministry said that more than 100 people involved in the recent school incidents had been identified, arrested, and under investigation.



Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Bangladesh Says Student Leaders Held for Their Own Safety

People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
People take part in a song march to protest against the indiscriminate killings and mass arrest in Dhaka on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Bangladesh said three student leaders had been taken into custody for their own safety after the government blamed their protests against civil service job quotas for days of deadly nationwide unrest.

Students Against Discrimination head Nahid Islam and two other senior members of the protest group were Friday forcibly discharged from hospital and taken away by a group of plainclothes detectives.

The street rallies organized by the trio precipitated a police crackdown and days of running clashes between officers and protesters that killed at least 201 people, according to an AFP tally of hospital and police data.

Islam earlier this week told AFP he was being treated at the hospital in the capital Dhaka for injuries sustained during an earlier round of police detention.

Police had initially denied that Islam and his two colleagues were taken into custody before home minister Asaduzzaman Khan confirmed it to reporters late on Friday.

"They themselves were feeling insecure. They think that some people were threatening them," he said.

"That's why we think for their own security they needed to be interrogated to find out who was threatening them. After the interrogation, we will take the next course of action."

Khan did not confirm whether the trio had been formally arrested.

Days of mayhem last week saw the torching of government buildings and police posts in Dhaka, and fierce street fights between protesters and riot police elsewhere in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government deployed troops, instituted a nationwide internet blackout and imposed a curfew to restore order.

- 'Carried out raids' -

The unrest began when police and pro-government student groups attacked street rallies organized by Students Against Discrimination that had remained largely peaceful before last week.

Islam, 26, the chief coordinator of Students Against Discrimination, told AFP from his hospital bed on Monday that he feared for his life.

He said that two days beforehand, a group of people identifying themselves as police detectives blindfolded and handcuffed him and took him to an unknown location to be tortured before he was released the next morning.

His colleague Asif Mahmud, also taken into custody at the hospital on Friday, told AFP earlier that he had also been detained by police and beaten at the height of last week's unrest.

Police have arrested at least 4,500 people since the unrest began.

"We've carried out raids in the capital and we will continue the raids until the perpetrators are arrested," Dhaka Metropolitan Police joint commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarker told AFP.

"We're not arresting general students, only those who vandalized government properties and set them on fire."