Iranian authorities arrested 110 people on suspicion of being linked to suspected poisonings at girls schools that have hospitalized hundreds of students since November.
Saeed Montazeralmahdi, a spokesman for Iran’s police command, said the arrests were the result of an increase in police foot patrols around affected institutions, the semi-official Mehr News Agency reported on Wednesday.
A spate of mass illnesses has spread through hundreds of Iranian schools over the past few months, with teachers and students reporting the presence of noxious gas and smells that have caused vomiting and nausea. That’s coincided with the biggest popular uprising against the Islamic Republic’s theocratic leadership since it was founded after the 1979 revolution — with women and girls playing a central role.
