A new spate of suspected poisonous-gas attacks has hit Iranian girls schools in several towns and cities this week, after authorities said they had arrested scores of people over earlier incidents.
There have been reports of cases in Tehran and the northwestern city of Ardebil, according to the reformist Etemad newspaper. The BBC said schools have been targeted in Urumie, Khoy, Karaj and the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, citing rights groups and unverified videos received from viewers.
The attacks suggest a revival of a wave of poisonings first reported in November, when Iran was gripped by nationwide protests over the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The demonstrations have been stifled by the deadly response of security forces, but women have continued to defy Iran’s strict laws governing what they wear in public by abandoning head scarves and coverings.
The activist group 1500tasvir posted a video from Shahin Shahr near the city of Isfahan showing students gathered outside a school, and several can be seen seated or lying on the ground coughing.
In another clip purportedly from a different school in the area, parents can be seen clashing with teachers at a school gate.
According to 1500tasvir, they were denied access to their children who’d been barred from leaving the school grounds by officials.
None of the reports or footage can be verified by Bloomberg.
Thousands of students have been hospitalized as a result of the poisonings but no one has been charged and the incidents appeared to stop after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly condemned them for the first time last month.
Last week a senior police official said authorities would start prosecuting women and businesses who didn’t observe the Islamic laws dictating dress, using “smart cameras” and other unspecified “equipment and technology.”
