Winnipeg rally condemns Iranian regime over alleged confrontation involving teen

Members of the Iranian community in Manitoba gathered in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday to condemn the Iranian regime over an alleged confrontation in Tehran earlier this month in which a teenage girl was seriously injured.

Over a dozen people held signs and waved Iranian flags outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights on Sunday afternoon, renewing calls on the Canadian government to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity.

Saeid Ghavami, a member of the Association of Iranian-Canadians in Manitoba and an organizer of Sunday's event, said they came together to show support for people in Iran who oppose the regime.

"So our message is that we are standing with [the] Iranian community ... and we are trying to be their voice because they are voiceless, because they have very limited access to internet, and we do our best to support women's lead [of a] revolution in Iran," Ghavami said.

Iran's judiciary has denied the report by the Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw regarding the Oct. 1 incident involving 16-year-old Armita Geravand, who activists say is in critical condition in hospital.

Iranian authorities have also denied reports by rights activists that Geravand was injured in a confrontation with officers enforcing the country's Islamic dress code, which requires women to wear a head covering.

Geravand's case is highly sensitive, raising concerns the 16-year-old might face the same fate as Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman whose death in a coma last year in the custody of morality police sparked months of nationwide protest.

People in Manitoba's Iranian community have organized a number of rallies over the past year in solidarity with protests in Iran and around the world stemming from Amini's death. Most recently, they gathered outside the Manitoba legislature on Sept. 16 to mark the one-year anniversary of her death.

"I hold a belief that there might be just one single person in Iran who's watching these protests and is reminded that there is an entire international community like us, who is actively voicing our opinion and we're saying, 'We are behind you. Whatever you do, we're behind you, we're here for you and we will help in whatever way possible,'" said Mohammad Pasha Khoshkebari, who MCed Sunday's event.

He said events like this one reminds those who are protesting conditions in Iran about why they're fighting.

"It's really easy to forget that there's people dying in Iran. You just turn off your brain and go like, 'You know that's fine if I don't see it, it's not happening.' But that's not how it works. You know, my family members are there. Their family members are there," he said.

"Even if you aren't Iranian, and even if you're not even have family members and even have no connection at a human rights level, isn't it imperative? Isn't our moral obligation to help or change the suffering of people of Iran?"