As protests rage in Iran for women’s rights, Regina residents are doing their part to show support.
Over 100 community members gathered outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building Saturday to rally for justice, women’s rights and human rights in Iran.
“Our brothers and sisters back home are fighting whole-heartedly with bare hands against the Islamic regime,” said Shiva Souri, an Iranian student who has been living in Canada for the last year and a half.
“This is the only thing we can do as an outside country because we do have the privilege to speak with our voices and talk on their behalf and ask people who have the power to tell the world what is happening in Iran.”
Iranians have been actively protesting the Islamic regime for over month now and during this time, the regime has shut down the internet in the entire country, arrested protestors, and killed hundreds of people, some as young as 15-years-old.
“I might put my family in danger because we have attended a protest,” when talking about the hold the regime has not just in Iran, but out of the country as well,” said Souri. “We are under pressure, we are buckled up and under stress every single morning that we wake up.”
While anger against the regime was strong for Souri this weekend, she also feels and immense amount of pride.
“I feel not helpless anymore,” she said. “I feel like I have a mountain behind me and each one of us feels the same. Our voicees will make action.”
For Zahra Mansoureh Darzi, an Iranian woman who has been in Canada for 31 years, it’s hard for people from Canada to fully understand the control the regime has on Iranian people, but protests like today’s start to slowly educate people.
“If you want to take your dog outside, you don’t have that freedom,” Darzi said. “If I want to dance or I want to sing… that is not permitted under the Islamic regime. So many small things beyond our imagination here that we can’t believe.”
Darzi’s husband was executed in 1998 when she was just two months’ pregnant, after he spoke against the regime sending 15-year-olds into war. It is something on the top of her mind throughout the protest.
“He was only asking for freedom and justice. They killed him because they were afraid of the truth coming out. I can’t even express my feeling in that moment.”
For both Darzi and Souri, the final sentiment about what needs to happen was the same.
“The one and only solution is revolution,” Souri said.