Tehran (EFE) .
“It is an unforgivable crime. The perpetrators of this crime must be severely punished,” Khamenei said, Iranian state media reported.
The religious leader urged authorities to investigate apparent gas poisonings at women’s educational institutions that began in November in the Shi’ite holy city of Qom and have multiplied in recent days.
More than a thousand students have been intoxicated
So far, more than a thousand female students have been poisoned in dozens of cities across the country and have suffered headaches, palpitations, nausea, dizziness and sometimes the inability to move their limbs after perceiving a smell of rotten orange and cleaning products.
The latest cases occurred yesterday Sunday in various cities across the country, and even in a student dormitory where 450 young people live, of whom 29 were admitted to hospitals, the Shargh newspaper reported.
The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Intelligence are investigating the attacks, but have so far reported no progress in the investigation.
According to Interior data, there have been gas attacks in 52 schools, an unknown number of female students were intoxicated and 28 students have been hospitalized, figures that are far from those provided by the Iranian media and activist groups.
Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has blamed the poisonings on “enemies” of the country, a term often used in the Persian country to refer to the United States and Israel.
Popular discontent among parents
The attacks are fueling popular discontent, especially among parents, given the ineffectiveness of the authorities in stopping attacks that seem destined to paralyze the education of the students.
In Iran, female education has not been questioned in the 43 years of existence of the Islamic Republic and some parents link the poisonings with the protests with a marked feminist tone in recent months.
The students of schools and institutes participated in these protests, took off their veils, shouted “woman, life, freedom” and cut their sleeves to portraits of Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruholá Khomeini.