From November 30, 2022, through at least May 2023, there were hundreds of reported poisoning incidents at schools across Iran, the vast majority reported at girls’ schools. Videos circulated on social media depicting girls coughing, vomiting, and struggling to walk in front of their schools. Yet at the same time, contradictory information undermined the validity of these videos, claiming they were fake or else alleging that the poisonings were psychological, and the girls’ symptoms were caused by their own fear or anxiety. Eventually, the Iranian government concluded in its own investigation that the vast majority of the alleged poisoning incidents were actually caused by girls’ anxiety or hysteria.

We found open-source evidence that contradicts the government’s findings, and instead shows that schoolgirls in Iran experienced real symptoms and that those symptoms were likely caused by something that was physical rather than psychological, and we are doubtful that the vast majority of episodes were the result of anxiety or mass hysteria. We also found that although Iranian officials acknowledged publicly that something had occurred and in some cases attributed the incidents to poison, they nevertheless downplayed the girls’ symptoms, prevented information about the incidents from spreading, failed to take safety precautions to prevent future incidents, and failed to properly investigate or provide evidence-supported explanations for what happened. We find that Iran violated several of its obligations under international human rights law in light of this response to the poisoning incidents, either under a theory of direct responsibility, where the poisoning incidents were attributable to an organ or agent of the Iranian government or, alternatively, under a theory of due diligence, under which Iran failed to ensure respect for its human rights obligations by failing to prevent these incidents or provide effective remedies to victims.