Iran arrests 4 over assault linked to school poisonings

Tehran, Iran (AFP):

Iranian authorities arrested four people Thursday in connection with an assault on a woman outside a girls’ school targeted in a wave of poisoning attacks, a news agency said.

Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls in what one government official said could be an attempt to force the closure of girls’ schools in the Islamic republic.

In the aftermath of one of the latest attacks, a video that went viral on social media appeared to show a man assaulting a woman outside the Aban 13 School in Tehran. The footage was verified by AFP.

“Four people were arrested over the incident in which a woman was beaten in front of the Aban 13 School,” Tasnim news agency reported.

Tehran’s police force in a statement distanced itself from the case, saying “members of the police had no role, either directly or indirectly in the incident”.

Military prosecutors in Tehran said in a separate statement that they had opened an investigation into the attack on the woman.

“All the personnel of the armed forces are obliged to comply with the laws, sharia rules and moral limits in dealing with citizens… and any violation in this regard will be dealt with legally,” the statement said.

Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi also called on Tehran’s police force to look into any inappropriate treatment of the woman who was seen being attacked in the video.

President Ebrahim Raisi has ordered Vahidi to provide him with “continuous information on the results of the investigation” into the poisoning attacks to “allay the concerns of the families” of the affected students.

On Wednesday, at least 10 girls’ schools were targeted with poisoning attacks, seven in the northwestern city of Ardabil and three in the capital, according to media reports.

Last week, the deputy health minister, Younes Panahi, said the poisonings are aimed at shutting down education for girls.