EU Resolution Demanding Probe into Poisoning Incidents Angers Iran's Foreign Ministry

Representatives of the European Parliament participate in a previous session (EPA)
Representatives of the European Parliament participate in a previous session (EPA)
TT

EU Resolution Demanding Probe into Poisoning Incidents Angers Iran's Foreign Ministry

Representatives of the European Parliament participate in a previous session (EPA)
Representatives of the European Parliament participate in a previous session (EPA)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized the European Parliament resolution to demand an international investigation into the poisoning of schools in dozens of Iranian cities.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani expressed his surprise at the position of the European Parliament, adding that, unfortunately, the EU Parliament has turned into a platform for "suspicious and extremist figures with the aim of spewing hate against the people of Iran and for the Iranophobic project."

The spokesman added that senior officials in Iran strongly condemned this inhumane act, and ordered a comprehensive investigation into the issue, demanding the identification of the perpetrators.

On Thursday, the European Parliament called on the United Nations to investigate the poisoning of thousands of schoolgirls in Iran, condemning the regime's months-long failure to act on and deliberate suppression of credible reports of systematic toxic attacks against schoolgirls.

Members of the European Parliament overwhelmingly endorsed a non-binding resolution urging the Human Rights Council to launch an investigation into the facts and calling "for those responsible to be held to account."

The resolution called on the Iranian authorities to grant full access to the UN IIFFM and the UN Special Rapporteur on the country's human rights situation.

State media and officials reported that 13,000 schoolchildren, primarily girls, have fallen ill after what are believed to be "poisonings."

Some politicians accused religious groups that oppose girls' education.

Reports of poisonings emerged two months after the protest began after the death of the young woman, Mahsa Amini, after the morality police arrested her.

Last week, the Interior Ministry said that more than 100 people had been detained across 11 provinces on suspicion of taking part in the recent poisonings.

Authorities arrested the suspects and launched an investigation.

The Ministry said that among those arrested were people and students aiming to close the schools and create skepticism towards the state.

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.

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 or "fatigue."

He indicated that poisoning must have determined symptoms identified by the specialized laboratories.



Hungary’s Orban Blames Immigration and EU for Deadly Attack in Germany

 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds an international press conference in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2024. (Reuters)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds an international press conference in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2024. (Reuters)
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Hungary’s Orban Blames Immigration and EU for Deadly Attack in Germany

 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds an international press conference in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2024. (Reuters)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds an international press conference in Budapest, Hungary, December 21, 2024. (Reuters)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday drew a direct link between immigration and an attack in Germany where a man drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people and injuring 200 others.

During a rare appearance before independent media in Budapest, Orban expressed his sympathy to the families of the victims of what he called the “terrorist act” on Friday night in the city of Magdeburg. But the long-serving Hungarian leader, one of the European Union's most vocal critics, also implied that the 27-nation bloc's migration policies were to blame.

German authorities said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine and described himself as a former Muslim.

Orban claimed without evidence that such attacks only began to occur in Europe after 2015, when hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees entered the EU after largely fleeing war and violence in the Middle East and Africa.

Europe has in fact seen numerous militant attacks going back decades including train bombings in Madrid, Spain, in 2004 and attacks on central London in 2005.

Still, the nationalist leader declared that “there is no doubt that there is a link” between migration and terrorism, and claimed that the EU leadership “wants Magdeburg to happen to Hungary too.”

Orban’s anti-immigrant government has taken a hard line on people entering Hungary since 2015, and has built fences protected by razor wire on Hungary's southern borders with Serbia and Croatia.

In June, the European Court of Justice ordered Hungary to pay a fine of 200 million euros ($216 million) for persistently breaking the bloc’s asylum rules, and an additional 1 million euros per day until it brings its policies into line with EU law.

Orban, a right-wing populist who is consistently at odds with the EU, has earlier vowed that Hungary would not change its migration and asylum policies regardless of any rulings from the EU's top court.

On Saturday, he promised that his government will fight back against what he called EU efforts to “impose” immigration policies on Hungary.