Warning: The Beginning of a New Chapter of Islamist Terrorism in Iran
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by Mohammad Reza Nikfar — 27February2023
These days in Iran, terrorism under the pretext of religion has taken new form in the regime’s latest attempt to poison schoolgirls. The violent desire behind this crime is the same as the one behind the murder of Zhina Amini and all other Zhinas. We must raise and counter this violence!
The online news outlet entekhab.ir wrote on February 26th, “In the schools of Qom, a series of accidents marked by signs of poisoning started to occur two months ago.” Today, state officials openly expressed that the serial poisoning of schoolgirls is not a mere coincidence but that they are intentionally driven by specific plans and actors behind the scenes. So far, there have been reports of poisoning amongst schoolgirls in Qom, Khorramabad, Tehran and Ardabil.
On November 30th, 2022, KhabarOnline wrote, “Noor girls’ art school was the starting point of the series of poisonings of schoolgirls in the city of Qom. These mysterious poisonings did not remain unique to Qom and the female students of this city; similar cases were soon reported in Borujerd, Ardabil, and Tehran, and are reoccurring. The Minister of Health and the Minister of Education reacted by denying the claims, calling the serial poisonings, “part of a string of conspiracies spread by media sources located outside of the country,” western propaganda.
The same source further stated, “Homayoon Sameh-Najafabadi, a member of the Health and Medical Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in response to a question about the intentionality of these incidents, announced, what is clear is that it is a deliberate act in both cities of Qom and Borujerd.”
Finally, on February 26th, the Deputy Minister of Health announced that schoolgirls are being deliberately poisoned with the aim of the closure of girls’ schools.
Deliberate poisoning of schoolgirls follows the politics behind mandatory veiling
Recreating the logic in the minds of those who deliberately poison schoolgirls is not difficult. Based on existing knowledge regarding groups such as Shia fanatics and the Taliban — for instance, their history of opposition to the opening of girls’ schools, especially in the religious city of Qom — we can deduce that this is how they think: a woman’s desire to unveil starts from their unobstructed entry into society, which begins with school; so if we close girls’ schools and prevent girls from studying or having access to education, we have targeted the source of the problem and solved the issue from its roots!
Hence, those who poison schoolgirls are not merely “independent”, they fundamentally follow the same logic which created the “morality police”. What distinguishes them from official authorities of the Velayat-e Faqih regime is that they are not subject to expediency.
Signs of religious terrorism
The appropriate title for the deliberate acts of poisoning schoolgirls is terrorism; religious terrorism, as the motivation behind it lies in religion. It is necessary that this villainy is addressed with this name. It must be specified that poisoning schoolgirls is in line with the murder of Zhina Amini and other similar cases [of femicide], and with the chain murders [of dissident intellectuals]: they all stem from the same motivations which oppress and discriminate against women and dissidents. Such incentives drive the overall oppression that defines the Velayat-e Faqih regime.
During Zhina’s revolution, we saw how hidden terrorism paved the way for the murders on the streets of Iran. Official terrorism goes hand in hand with hidden terrorism. Islamism has an inherent association with terrorism. Whenever it wants to make way, whenever its power is unsteady, or whenever the expediency of power and asceticism is to its detriment, it turns to terrorism. As currently the power of the Velayat-e Faqih regime is unstable again, the chances of the rise of terrorism from within its margins are indisputable.
The serial poisoning of schoolgirls can be considered as a new chapter of religious terrorism in Iran and it must be taken seriously. Passive fear and concern on one hand, and seeking refuge to the regime responsible for the chain murders and hidden and visible terrors inside and outside the country out of the fear of terrorism on the other hand, act as sources of motivation for the terrorists. Mass expression of hatred and detestation of terrorism, on both the streets and in the media, is the main solution to combat it.
