Enlarge image
Still from a video showing protests in front of a Ministry of Education building in Tehran
Photo:
- / AFP
The White House has called for a "credible and independent investigation" into the recent wave of poisonings in Iran.
Those responsible must be held accountable, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.
The poisoning of school girls in Iran is "unheard of".
If the girls were poisoned for trying to get an education, it would be "shameful and unacceptable," said Jean-Pierre.
»Women and girls everywhere have a basic right to education.«
The first cases of poisoning were reported back in November.
Iran's government assumes targeted attacks.
Schools for girls are almost exclusively affected.
Schoolgirls were being treated in hospitals across the country.
Parents and relatives are outraged and angry, and there is still no official explanation.
They accuse the authorities of failure and blame them.
Doctors speak of gas poisoning.
Iranian media have reported more than 2,400 cases of poisoning in schools.
This was the result of an evaluation of reports that appeared in the Iranian media from November to early March.
There are currently no official figures.
According to Iranian media reports, more than a hundred schools in the Islamic Republic are affected.
Observers also assume that there are unreported cases.
Iran's supreme leader on Monday called for harsh punishment for those responsible.
“The perpetrators of this crime must be severely punished.
There will be no amnesty for such people," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, according to the state news agency IRNA.
"The authorities must seriously investigate the case of the poisoned schoolchildren."
It was the first time that Khamenei commented on the issue.
He described the poisoning as an "unforgivable crime" and said: "The competent authorities, intelligence services and law enforcement agencies should investigate and uncover the causes of this crime." Khamenei has the last word in Iran on all strategic matters.
After reporting on the wave of poisoning, a newspaper journalist was also arrested.
Ali Purtabatabai was arrested, the newspaper Entekhab reported on Sunday evening, citing his sister.
The journalist worked accordingly in the religious stronghold Qom.
It was from there that the first cases of poisoning were reported.
aar/dpa