by The Commentator on 4 June 2013 00:29

Seven people have died, several been made blind, and over 300 have been reported sick after ingesting illegally brewed alcohol in Iran's southern city of Rafsanjan.

Local hospitals have reported a high number of patients complaining of loss of vision adn other symptoms consistent with alcohol poisoning, according to a recent New York Times report.

The victims were all young men. “All those who died were men under the age of 27,” said Dr. Hamid Najmedin of the Rafsanjan Medical Science University, the Ebtekarnews website reported Sunday.

Seventy-five patients in Rafsanjan and 109 sickened in other parts of Kerman province underwent dialysis, but were later released from the hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Local doctors say the victims drank concoctions containing high levels of methanol — a simple alcohol used as an antifreeze and also for biofuels — mixed with energy drinks.

Alcohol is strictly forbidden and considered a sin in Iran, and violators face a lashing, according to Iran’s Islamic laws. Those who abuse alcohol can even be put to death in Iran.

Despite the risks, some Iranians smuggle in large amounts of foreign alcohol and make their own version of vodka, known as arak sagi, or dog sweat.

In the past seven months the number of deaths related to bad alcohol has more than doubled, the Mehr news agency has reported.

But some officials in the region cast this most recent episode as part of a political plot to influence the June 14 presidential election or to lower voter turnout as a way to raise doubts about the popularity of Iran’s leaders. The governor of Rafsanjan, which is a relatively wealthy region that is the center of Iran’s pistachio cultivation, said the alcohol distributors were trying to stop people from voting.

“We are creating a political epic, but some people are trying to create an atmosphere in which they can achieve their mischievous goals,” the governor, Akbar Pourmohammadi, told the Fars news agency, adding that three people had been arrested.