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.



German Police Say 4 Women and a Boy Were Killed in the Christmas Market Attack

Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
TT

German Police Say 4 Women and a Boy Were Killed in the Christmas Market Attack

Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)
Tributes to the victims are seen outside the Johanniskirche (Johannes Church), a makeshift memorial near the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany, on December 22, 2024. (AFP)

More details emerged Sunday about those killed when a man drove a car at speed through a Christmas market in Germany, while mourners continued to place flowers and other tributes at the site of the attack.

Police in Magdeburg, the central city where the attack took place on Friday evening, said that the victims were four women ranging in age from 45 to 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy they had spoken of a day earlier.

Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.

Authorities have identified the suspect in the Magdeburg attack as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.

The suspect was on Saturday evening brought before a judge, who behind closed doors ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.

Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, accusing German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he referred to as the “Islamification of Europe.”

The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany make it likely that migration will remain a key issue as German heads toward an early election on Feb. 23.

The far-right Alternative for Germany party had already been polling strongly amid a societal backlash against the large numbers of refugees and migrants who have arrived in Germany over the past decade.

Right-wing figures from across Europe have criticized German authorities for having allowed high levels of migration in the past and for what they see as security failures now.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is known for a strong anti-migration position going back years, used the attack in Germany to lash out at the European Union’s migration policies.

At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orban insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”

Orban vowed to “fight back” against the EU migration policies “because Brussels wants Magdeburg to happen to Hungary, too.”