For once, the Iranian regime does not dispute the facts. Since the beginning of November, more than 800 schoolgirls in at least 58 schools have been poisoned by poison gas while in class. In Qom, the holy city, in Tehran, the capital, and in eight other provinces of the country.
Dozens of them were hospitalized. They had nausea, headaches, respiratory problems, temporary paralysis. These are the facts, reported in the newspapers of the Islamic Republic. Terrible and without appeal.
Who did that ? We don’t know and the accusations are flying right and left.
Opponents of the ayatollahs’ regime accuse it of punishing girls because they have been and continue to be the spark plug for the biggest protest movement in Iran since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
The regime itself, as usual, blames foreign “enemies”. “This is a project to sow chaos in the country and by which our enemies are trying to instil fear among parents and schoolchildren,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Friday.
Both sides are guessing.
On the other hand, there is another fact which is easy to establish. We know who has absolutely not moved a finger to stop these massive poisonings: the Islamic regime.
The same regime that successfully crisscrossed streets across the country with its security forces to quell protests that began last September, the same regime that arrested more than 14,000 people and executed four protesters following hasty trials, well, this same regime suddenly seems to be running out of resources to protect little girls in school.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY REUTERS
A young woman is hospitalized following being exposed to toxic gases.
In the public square, the ministers, the deputy ministers say that “the competent authorities have been seized”, but following four months of “investigation”, we do not see any results. Or at least no convincing results.
This week, the driver of a water tanker who was seen near two schools affected by the poisonings was arrested in the suburb of Pardis, near Borazjan, in the south-west of the country. We are far from having unearthed a network of dangerous foreign conspirators!
And during this time, the attacks multiply. This week, three schools in Tehran reported poison gas attacks.
And how did the Iranian authorities react? Not by dispatching the powerful Revolutionary Guards to protect the schools. On the other hand, the mother of a schoolgirl who was expressing her anger and demanding accountability from the state was violently rebuffed by a group of men. The muscular intervention made the rounds of social networks and aroused indignation1. The state says it is looking for these men, but the whole country is convinced that they were undercover agents.
The role of a State is to protect its population. This is the basis. It is in the name of this duty that the State provides itself with a police force, an army.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY REUTERS
Passers-by gather around an ambulance near a school in Fardis, a suburb of Tehran, following poisoning cases were reported there on Wednesday.
“When actions [contre la population] are committed and nothing is happening, it is a breach of state responsibility,” said France-Isabelle Langlois, executive director of the French-speaking Canadian section of Amnesty International.
A specialist in Iran affiliated with the Raoul-Dandurand Chair of the University of Quebec in Montreal, Hanieh Ziaei also believes that the disempowerment of the theocratic government is at the very heart of the revolt movement in the country which, if it is less visible on the streets these days, is far from extinct.
“For 15 years, people have criticized the state for not taking its responsibilities in several areas. If we look at the economy, there is no management of unemployment, inflation and the cost of living. Same thing in health, people do not have access to certain drugs, in particular to treat cancer. During the pandemic, Iran was one of the last countries to get the vaccine,” notes the political scientist.
Each time, the fault is thrown on an external cause, on an external enemy. Blame it on the United States, the big Satan, and on Israel, the little Satan. “Leaders have been harping on the same arguments in the same tone for 44 years. The population no longer believes in it”, notes Mme Ziaei.
And the Iranian state is particularly lacking in arguments when it comes to violence once morest women. When a serial killer spread fear in the streets of Masshad, murdering prostitutes one following another, law enforcement took months to respond. And to date, no one has been punished for a series of acid attacks in 2014 once morest women who refused to follow the strict state dress code.
No, at the moment no one can say with certainty that the Iranian state is ordering the poisoning of young girls in schools, but no one can absolve it either. Because when you have all the tools of power in your hands, inaction at best is synonymous with assent.
