Women, Life, Freedom rallies in Winnipeg mark one year since Mahsa Amini's death

People from Manitoba's Iranian community showed their support for the ongoing uprising in Iran at several Winnipeg rallies held Saturday to mark the one-year anniversary of a young woman's death in police custody.

"We're here for change. We're here to make change happen in Iran," said Pasha Khoshkebari, an Iranian-Winnipegger who helped organize a Women, Life, Freedom rally at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Mahsa Amini was arrested in Iran's capital for "improper attire" on Sept. 13, 2022, after she allegedly did not wear a hijab properly. The 22-year-old died in police custody three days later.

Iranian police said the cause of death was a heart attack, which caused Amini to fall into a coma before being brought to a hospital. Other women detained with her alleged she suffered police brutality.

Her death sparked protests in Iran, where the slogan "Women, life, freedom" began being used as a rallying cry. Those protests sparked others all around the world, Khoshkebari said.

"It's all about ensuring that more and more people are aware of why we're here," he said. "This is for the students of Iran, for the women of Iran, for the people who don't have equality."

Wearing the hijab has been compulsory for Iranian women since after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran's so-called morality police, which enforces the dress code, has been criticized in recent years for its treatment of people, especially young women.

But since Amini's death, women have been rebelling against the rule at unheard of levels, said Arian Arianpour, president of the Iranian Community of Manitoba.

"The level of civil disobedience in Iran is an unprecedented level. Women especially are choosing on a daily basis what they wear, they are not abiding by the laws of the Islamic Republic anymore," he told CBC at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where more than one hundred people gathered for another Women, Life, Freedom rally Saturday.

This disobedience has led to violence, Arianpour added. Hundreds have been killed and thousands arrested, he said.

For Nazanin Roshanshah, it's important to show support for people in her home country.

"I'm not in the streets of Iran. I'm not beside my friends and the boys and girls who are bravely fighting against bullets," she said at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

"We know that it's not a big help to Iranians inside, but we're not going to stop supporting them."

While the uprising in Iran makes Arianpour hopeful for change, he said it's important for people around the world to keep supporting the movement.