Over 1,000 ladies have fallen ailing after being poisoned since November, based on state media and officers, with some politicians blaming non secular teams opposed to ladies’ schooling.

The poisonings have come at a crucial time for Iran’s clerical rulers after months of protests for the reason that dying of a younger girl held by police for flouting hijab guidelines.

“Authorities ought to severely pursue the difficulty of scholars’ poisoning,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by state TV. “Whether it is confirmed deliberate, these perpetrators of this unforgivable crime must be sentenced to capital punishment.”

The poisonings started in November within the holy Shi’ite Muslim metropolis of Qom and unfold to 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces, prompting some dad and mom to take youngsters out of faculty and protest.

Authorities have accused the Islamic Republic’s “enemies” of utilizing the assaults to undermine the clerical institution. However suspicions have fallen on hardline teams working as self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.

Additionally learn: Revenge poisoning? Many Iran schoolgirls sick after doable poisonous fuel assaults

In Washington, President Joe Biden’s press secretary referred to as the poisonings shameful on Monday.

“The chance that ladies in Iran are being probably poisoned merely for attempting to get an schooling is shameful, it is unacceptable,” Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned at a information briefing.

The White Home referred to as for an impartial investigation to find out if the poisonings had been associated to protests, which might make it effectively inside the mandate of the United Nations fact-finding mission on Iran.

‘GIRLS PAYING THE PRICE’

In 2014, folks took to the streets of the town of Isfahan after a wave of acid assaults, which seemed to be geared toward terrorizing ladies who violated the strict Islamic gown code.

For the primary time for the reason that Islamic Revolution in 1979, schoolgirls have been becoming a member of the protests that spiralled after Mahsa Amini’s dying in morality police custody.

Some activists have accused the institution of orchestrating the poisonings in revenge.

“Now the women of Iran are paying the value for combating in opposition to the obligatory hijab (veil) and have been poisoned by the clerical institution,” tweeted New York-based main Iranian activist Masih Alinejad.

Fearing contemporary impetus for protests, authorities have downplayed the poisonings. A judicial probe is below method, although no particulars of findings have but been launched.

A minimum of one boys’ faculty has additionally been focused within the metropolis of Boroujerd, state media reported.