Iran's revolt in short: chemical gas attacks on girls' schools

The Iranian national revolt marked 202 days of protests on Wednesday. To contain the threat of a new uprising, the mullahs' regime has ordered its agents to launch new chemical gas attacks on girls' schools in several cities across the country. The ruling dictatorship is playing with fire, as these attacks on innocent schoolgirls are likely to trigger a new wave of protests across the country, which could shake the regime to its foundations.

On Wednesday, the Hazrat-e Mahdi primary school in the city of Piranshahr in northwestern Iran was subjected to a chemical gas attack by regime agents. Many female pupils were taken to hospital for medical treatment.
 
Other reports indicate that another girls' school in Sanandaj, the provincial capital of Kurdistan in western Iran, was also subjected to a chemical gas attack by regime agents. Several female students were poisoned.

In Kuhanjan, in Fars province in south-central Iran, the Esteghlal girls' school was subjected to a chemical gas attack by regime agents. Several female students were taken to hospital for medical treatment.

PMOI-affiliated resistance units and protesters in Iranian cities responded with a wave of new anti-regime measures to the latest chemical gas attacks by the mullahs on girls' schools and to the misogynist rules and restrictions imposed on Iranian women regarding their dress and the hijab.

• Resistance units set fire to statues of regime founder Ruhollah Khomeini and current supreme leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, Jondi Shapour, Sabzevar and Ardastan.
• Protesters attacked a seminary in Isfahan, used by the mullahs' regime to spread its ideology of hatred, misogyny and fundamentalism.
• Protesters attacked IRGC Basij paramilitary bases in the cities of Karaj, Qom, Amol, Kuhdasht, Nowshahr and Semnan.
• Protesters in Tehran, Qom and the northern city of Rudsar attacked several branches of banks affiliated with the mullahs' regime and the IRGC. These banks loot citizens' savings to finance the regime's wars at home and abroad.

In Ahvaz in southwest Iran, pensioners of the regime's Social Security Organisation protested against rising prices, poverty, corruption, inflation, poor living conditions and the refusal of officials to meet their demands.

In Tehran, residents gathered in the Shahr-e-Ziba neighbourhood to celebrate the birthday of a protester killed by the regime during the recent Iranian revolution protests. Crowds began to swell inside, and people were seen chanting anti-regime slogans, including "Down with the dictator!" "Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!"

The Ministry of Science announced: "Universities and higher education institutions under the supervision of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology will be exempted from providing educational, social, etc. services to the few female students who do not observe the rules and regulations of the universities in this regard". (ISNA - 3 April).

Abbas Shiraojan, vice president of the University of Medical Sciences, stated, "The universities of medical sciences will be exempted from providing services to the few students who do not wear the Islamic hijab." (Jamaran website - 3 April).

The head of Azad University, Iran's largest university complex announced, "The institutions concerned are obliged to prevent female students from attending the university in inappropriate clothing." (Entekhab website - 3 April).

Ebrahim Raisi stated on 1 April: "Legal obligation obliges everyone to abide by the law, even if for some reason one does not believe in the hijab, but adherence to the law makes a society governed by the rule of law." (News Network - 1 April)

Mullah Eje'i, head of the judiciary, had also warned that "removing the hijab is an act of hostility to the system and its values, and those who commit this irregularity will be punished" and that "officials are obliged to deal with obvious offences and any kind of irregularity in public that is against the law and Sharia. They must refer cases to the competent judicial authorities to deal with them. The judicial authorities must also be diligent in dealing with these cases (...) In case of identification and arrest of these perpetrators [of crimes], the judiciary will deal with this matter in a special manner and out of time, and all those who are involved in any way and are complicit in these matters will be prosecuted firmly and without any tolerance." (Fars Agency - April 1)

Earlier, the mullahs' Interior Ministry announced in a statement that "the hijab will always be one of the principles in the practice of the Islamic Republic of Iran". The statement added: "While insisting on the necessity of observing hijab in all public places and on all roads, and declaring support for all those who advocate virtue and prohibit vice throughout the country, the respectable judiciary, judicial officers and other concerned institutions will take action against the few who violate the rules." (Fars Agency - 31 March)

Zohreh Lajevardi, a member of the regime's parliament and daughter of Lajevardi, the "butcher of Evin prison", warned that "the parliament's cultural committee will crack down on officials who fail to do their duty regarding the hijab." (Fars Agency - 1 April)

During Friday prayers this week, Khamenei's representatives, in a theatrical coordination, told government authorities, "If you are not able to fight against the lack of hijab, we will take action." (Khabaronline website - 1 April) They called on members of the Bassij militia and other mercenaries to take measures to suppress women

This week, many shops, resorts, restaurants, cafes and even pharmacies and doctors' offices have been sealed and closed in several cities in the country, such as Qom, Shiraz, Khaf, Nour, Babolsar, Khorramabad, Miyaneh, Varzaneh, Dezfoul, etc.

In Kashan alone, 40 commercial and tourist premises have been sealed, and women are prevented from entering many centres under the pretext of hijab regulations. A video of a Basij militiaman attacking a mother and daughter in a dairy in Torqaba (Khorasan province) provoked an outcry and condemnation.

The Iranian Resistance, while condemning the misogynist policies of the clerical regime, warns against the intensification of repressive measures against women and calls on all international women's rights and human rights organisations to take concrete and effective measures against the oppression and discrimination of women in Iran.