ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A group of Kurdish schoolgirls who suffered severe burns after an accident at their school over five years ago, gathered in front of President Hassan Rouhani’s office in Tehran on Wednesday. "We stayed in front of the office of President Rouhani from morning. We want to meet the president to tell him the need to send the girls abroad," Jalal Moradi, the father of Sima Moradi who is one of the girls, told Rudaw English. The girls want to receive specialized medical treatment abroad – care they say is not available in Iran. In December 2012, an oil heater exploded in a school in the village of Shinabad, near Piranshahr in Iran's West Azerbaijan province. The explosion killed two of the girls and injured 37. The injuries of twelve of the girls were severe and they have undergone many surgeries. The government has refused requests from the girls and their families to travel abroad for treatment. "We met with Ms. Shahindokht Mowlaverdi, the vice president for Women and Family Affairs. She said that she will arrange a meeting with the head of Rouhani's office. Still, we try to meet the president," Moradi added. On June 19, a medical experts specializing in burns at Hazrati Fatima Hospital in Tehran examined the girls and concluded they could receive further surgeries and medical treatment in Iran. Some of the girls and their parents have been in Tehran since Saturday. They first tried to meet the minister of education. When that failed, they began their demonstration at Rouhani’s office. The rural areas of Iran are some of the poorest in the country. Wealthy Iranians often travel to Europe for specialized medical care or cosmetic surgery.
