Iran: Investigate Poisonings at Girl’s Schools and Women’s Dormitories with more Accountability and Transparency

Your Excellencies,

 

We write on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) of North America to express our grave concern over the intentional poisoning and terrorizing of schoolgirls and female college students in Iran over the past several months. As advocates for academic freedom and unhindered access to education, we find reports about these attacks shocking, and fear their negative implications on girls’ and women’s education in general, as well as on the overall progress and development of Iranian society. It has also been disappointing to see that Iranian officials, in the four months since the beginning of the attacks by poisoning in November 2022, have failed to adequately address this major concern of the Iranian population. While we acknowledge the government’s recent announcement of its investigation and arrests related to the poisoning, we are concerned about limited transparency and accountability in all judicial actions taken against the perpetrators. We therefore echo the calls of other civil society and academic groups for independent investigation of the poisonings under the guidance of relevant international treaty parties. 

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MESA was founded in 1966 to promote scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. The preeminent organization in the field, MESA publishes the International Journal of Middle East Studies and has over 2400 members worldwide. MESA is committed to ensuring academic freedom of expression, both within the region and in connection with the study of the region in North America and elsewhere.

 

In November 2022, the first school poisoning was reported in the city of Qom, where a number of students at a girls’ high school complained of symptoms of temporary shortness of breath, coughing and dizziness, combined with sensations of paralysis and numbness in their limbs. The medical examiners concluded that the symptoms were associated with inhaling poisonous gas. Just days after this attack, the students in this same school were subjected to yet another attack, but this time, a much larger proportion of the student population was poisoned and sent to hospital with similar symptoms that ranged from shortness of breath to feelings of paralysis, as well as nausea and vomiting. Since then, such attacks have steadily increased and spread across the country. By early March 2023, the attacks had impacted at least 7,068 students from at least 103 different schools and female college dormitories. The attacks have been recorded in at least 99 cities in 28 provinces. There are even reports of poisoning attacks on female college dormitories while students were asleep. With the exception of one reported attack on a male-only school, all the poisonings have occurred in female-only high schools and college dormitories in Iran’s gender-segregated educational system. Thus, the gendered intent of these attacks is laid bare. Given the absence of independent media in Iran, we fear that these attacks could be even more widespread, particularly in Iran’s remote areas. 

 

Unfortunately, many high-ranking government officials did not take these initial reports seriously, and even hindered journalistic investigations of the poisonings by imprisoning journalists in Qom and other affected cities, simply for covering these shocking events. With continued mass protest and anger, particularly by parents and students, various state officials, including the State Attorney General and the Minister of Education, finally confirmed in late February 2023 that the poisonings had been intentional and that the perpetrators needed to be found and tried. Despite these official condemnations, including strong words from Your Excellency, Ayatollah Khamenei, on 7 March 2023 that “such attacks are unforgivable,” the attacks have continued, and many schoolgirls and female college students remain too fearful to attend school and pursue their education. Parents and students from various schools continue to pressure school administrators to provide virtual schooling options, given the risks of poisoning attacks on school grounds. Many others have simply stopped attending school in light of school administrators’ failure to address their demands for safety. In a country that has largely valued girls’ and women’s education, it is extremely worrying to see that this fundamental right is being restricted in such a manner, and that some Iranian officials have publicly dismissed the students’ symptoms as mere hysteria and stress.  

 

Access to education, free from violence and intimidation, is a fundamental human right for all individuals regardless of gender. Iran has been committed to the protection of this right, both in its national laws as well as by ratifying relevant international documents, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. However, given the state’s laxity in responding to this crisis and its inability to protect its female student population after four months of serial and widespread poisoning attacks, the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association asks for greater transparency. We request that you continue to demonstrate your commitment to the protection and assurance of this fundamental right by working closely with relevant international bodies, such as UNESCO and the WHO, to which Iran is state party. We affirm the need for an independent investigation followed by just and transparent judicial action against the perpetrators of these attacks. We also ask the government to provide necessary accommodations and safeguards for the students affected so that they may get on with their education as soon as possible.

 

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

Eve M. Troutt Powell

MESA President

Professor, University of Pennsylvania

 

Laurie A. Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

 

cc:

His Excellency Ebrahim Raisi, President . . .