From NOTICE News Daily for March 8, 2023
Over 1,000 girls in the middle eastern country of Iran have fallen ill after being poisoned since November, according to state media and officials. Some politicians are blaming religious groups opposed to girls’ education, in a country where the U.N. says women are treated as “second class citizens.” The country’s supreme leader called it an “unforgivable” crime that should be punished by death if deliberate, state TV reported, amid public anger over the suspected attacks in schools. >> Full story
MORE INFO:
- More: What we know about the poisoning of school girls in Iran (The Guardian)
- Go deeper: Mahsa Amini: How one woman’s death sparked Iran protests this past fall (BBC News)
- What is life like for women in Iran? A look at the country’s laws for women from the U.S. Institute for Peace
- More: Women and girls treated as second class citizens, reforms urgently needed, says UN expert (UN)
TRANSCRIPT
Jonathan: On the other side of the world in Iran, protests are raging after the unthinkable happened. News media report that since November, more than a thousand school children – all girls – have been poisoned.
Iran is a theocracy, meaning its government is run by religious leaders – in this case, ultra-conservative Muslims. Under their rule, the U.N. says women and girls are treated as second-class citizens – forced to cover their heads, dress modestly, and lack the right to divorce.
In November, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died while in custody of the country’s “morality police” for not covering her head properly. The country has seen widespread protests since then, and those protests have been met with resistance from the government and other independent religious groups.
Now, it’s feared that religious groups opposed to girls’ education are behind this poisoning of school girls.
This girl says she has numbness everywhere and can’t walk. 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces have reported these poisonings, leading many parents to pull their daughters out of school.
In this video, protestors are heard chanting “they are lying that our enemy is America, our enemy is right here.”
Yesterday, Iran’s supreme leader called the poisoning of these girls unforgivable.
Sound: “If there are individuals behind this, which there must no doubt be people involved. Some are surely involved in some way. The relevant governing bodies, enforcement and information bodies, must pursue this and find the leads on this crime. The culprits must face the toughest of punishments.” 0:29
He said the people responsible should be punished by death.
