A wave of unrelenting protests over the killing of a young woman by the “morality police” for supposedly wearing a hijab improperly has torn apart Iran since September 2022. The nation’s tough government is now dealing with a new issue. Numerous girls’ schools have been gas bombed since the beginning of April, and no one is to blame.
In the northern Iranian city of Tabriz, there was a major fatality incident on April 4. Twenty girls were admitted to the hospital after experiencing headaches, nausea, and vertigo. Currently, it appears that Iran has seen at least 103 occurrences of this nature since last November; government officials and human rights advocates claim that 7,000 students, all of whom were female, have been poisoned. Only that no one has passed away thus far is excellent news.
A new spate of suspected poisonous-gas attacks hit Iranian girls schools in several towns and cities https://t.co/naLSc0BGU9
— Ali Vaez (@AliVaez) April 11, 2023
There is no question that the poisonings are intentional; although the Iranian authorities initially denied the attacks were taking place, the health ministry finally acknowledged this in late February. Additionally, it stated that gas bombs had been put inside soft toys within schools and that police had discovered them. The devices, according to officials, contained nitrogen gas, which, while not harmful, can asphyxiate if released in sufficient quantities in a small area.
Nobody has been identified as the perpetrator of these acts as of yet. Despite the arrest of almost 100 people, the incidents continue. Some are placing the blame on the Iranian government, which is beginning a fresh crackdown on women’s rights in response to protests against the death of Mahsa Amini by religious police in September 2022. But in this instance, it doesn’t seem likely.
Although the leadership is staunchly Islamist, it is a member of the Shia sect and does not oppose women’s education in the same manner that Taliban-style Sunni fanatics do. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader, referred to the attacks as “unforgivable” crimes.
The small Sunni minority in Iran could have planted the gas bombs, or international Islamist terrorist organizations like al-Qaida, which have attacked Iran in the past, could have done the same.
They are a blatant violation of women’s rights in a nation where those rights are already severely curtailed, regardless of who is carrying them out.
