‘I Couldn’t Breathe’: Hundreds of Schoolgirls in Iran Say They Were Poisoned

16-year-old Ana was sitting in her classroom one morning in February when she smelled something unusual, “a mixture of chemicals, spicy perfume, and tangerine peel.”

Soon, all hell broke loose. “The class was messed up,” she said. “The teacher was trying to calm us down, but the condition of many students was bad. It was a state I had never experienced before. I felt a heavy weight in my body, which was increasing every moment, and at the same time, I felt dizzy and nauseous. I couldn’t breathe.”

Ana, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, is one of around 700 schoolgirls from more than 30 schools across Iran who have reported falling ill in mysterious circumstances. The first reported incident took place at a girls’ school in the city of Qom, southwest of Tehran, in November, and while authorities initially dismissed it, they have now said they’re investigating multiple reports of noxious fumes making students at girls’ schools fall ill. 

Ana said she felt like she was living through an apocalyptic movie. “I couldn’t stand up,” she recalled. “One of my friends sat down and I put my head on her shoulder. I could hear my classmates crying, but I couldn't even cry. The students who were feeling better begged the school principal to call our parents or the ambulance. I don't remember how long it took. They took us to the hospital without telling our families. My parents immediately came and asked me what we have done for this calamity to have happened to us. The school had told them that we put tyres on classroom heaters for mischief. While I could barely speak, I had to explain to my family that I didn't do anything wrong."

Videos of girls sitting sick outside Ana’s school emerged on social media, yet at the time neither the ministry of education nor the powerful judiciary commented on the incident. That’s changed recently with an order from President Ebrahim Raisi for the interior ministry to investigate the cause of so many hospital admissions.

Ana stayed at home for two weeks. She said she and most of her classmates’ mental health suffered after the incident. Weeks later, she said she still has digestive issues. She cannot walk easily, her legs go numb, and though her family and other students have repeatedly referred her to the education department and police in Qom, they have received no answer. They’ve been threatened many times about reporting this incident to the media, especially outside of Iran.

But this week saw the issue escalate massively. In just one day, on the 1st of March, more than 26 schools across the country were seemingly targeted, including in Tehran, Kermanshah, Pardis, Isfahan and Ardabil. The conditions of most students are similar to Ana’s and at the schools in Tehran, Isfahan, and Ardabil, students reported objects similar to a homemade bomb were thrown inside.

Pina, whose name is also being withheld for security reasons, is a literature teacher in a girls' school in Tehran that experienced a suspected poisoning attack. 

"That day, there was an unusual security situation around the school from early morning,” she said. “As I was parking my car near the school, I noticed some plain-clothed police agents. But I didn’t imagine that in the next few hours I would face those scary scenes inside the school."

Pina, who suffered shortness of breath, had milder symptoms than the students. She had received warnings from Tehran’s education security after participating in the recent mass anti-government protests in Iran without a hijab, and believes that hardline forces in Iran supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are responsible for these suspected poisonings. Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets demanding greater freedoms and women’s rights following the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly. The protests have been met with a brutal crackdown. Many girls’ schools were also the sites of acts of resistance against the regime.

“The regime is taking revenge on the people, especially the students. The school officials behave strangely and don't seem to want to hold anyone accountable, not even the teachers. The school principal is against temporary closure of school or even online teaching. Honestly I don’t feel safe, not for myself or the students and other teachers.”

Zia, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons, is a neurologist whose colleagues visited some students affected by the suspected attacks in a hospital in Pardis, a small town near Tehran. Zia said that a colleague, having seen chemical attacks up close during the Iran-Iraq war, told him that the behaviour of the patients and their symptoms reminded him of those injured by chemical weapons. His colleague also said that the students were under the strict supervision of the security forces and that the doors of the hospital's laboratory were locked for several hours by these agents .

As more parents gathered around schools demanding answers, one video that was widely circulated on social media showed the authorities pulling a mother away by violently pulling on her hair and clothes. 

Lena is the mother of a 14-year-old girl who fell ill after a suspected poisoning. She is worried about the future.

"In the morning, one of my daughter's classmates informed me that my daughter's school was attacked. No one from the school had called us. I was very scared. All the way to my daughter's school, I forgot how to drive,” said Lena, whose identity is being withheld for security reasons.

“In front of the school, there were several ambulances and a large number of policemen and uniformed forces. Parents were very worried. Some mothers were crying loudly and the police surrounded us and didn’t allow anyone to film. We were shouting and chanting. The school door opened and some students, including my daughter, left the school. My daughter could barely walk and was very scared. The girls were hugging each other and crying.

“Fortunately, my daughter is fine, but I’m worried that she will experience traumatic stress. No one gives answers! I think these events will be repeated in schools, colleges, gyms, and public spaces.”

Although an investigation has finally been launched, the authorities in Iran are either completely silent or attribute these incidents to the mischief of students.