Over 100 people have been arrested in Iran and they allegedly have links with “hostile” groups.
Since November 2022, schoolgirls in Iran have suffered from fainting, nausea, shortness of breath, and other symptoms.
This usually happens after reporting “unpleasant” odours on school premises, with some being treated in the hospital.
The incidents started two months into the nationwide protests that happens in Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini on September 16.
Amini is an ethnic Kurd who was arrested over an alleged violation of strict dress rules for women.
However, she died in custody and this sparked protests across Iran.
Iran has blamed those protests, which it commonly labels “riots”, on hostile forces linked to the United States, Israel, and their allies.
The Poisoning And Arrest
The country facilitates more than 100 arrests over the mystery poisonings of thousands of schoolgirls.
More than 5,000 pupils have been affected in approximately 230 schools across 25 out of Iran’s 31 provinces, the latest official tally said.
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Arrests have been made in the provinces of Tehran, Qom, and Gilan in the north, Razavi Khorasan in the northeast, and West Azerbaijan.
Other areas of arrest include East Azerbaijan and Zanjan in the northwest, Kurdistan and Hamadan in the west, Khuzestan in the southwest, and Fars in the south.
“More than 100 people who were responsible for the recent school incidents were identified, arrested, and investigated,” the ministry of interior affairs said in a statement.
“Among those arrested are people with hostile motives and with the aim of instilling terror in the people and students and to close schools.”
The ministry added that “fortunately, from the middle of the last week until today, the number of incidents in schools has decreased significantly, and there have been no reports of sick students”.
The ministry points to possible links to an Albania-based exiled Iranian opposition group.
Tehran considers the group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran or Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), as a “terrorist” organisation.