'Women, Life, Freedom': Downing of Flight PS752 rally held in Regina in solidarity with Iranian protests

Sunday, Jan. 8 marked the three year anniversary of the downing of Flight PS752—a Ukrainian International Airlines flight that was shot down shortly after taking off from Tehran, Iran.

The incident killed 176 people, 55 of whom were Canadians, and 30 were permanent residents.

At the Dr. William Riddell Centre on the University of Regina campus, echoes of chants could be heard through the halls as dozens gathered in a rally standing in solidarity with protestors in Iran.

"If people around the world don't speak up about this injustice, about the freedom for women, they are going to face it," Shiva Souri, organizer of the Regina chapter of the rally, explained.

Over 50 people gathered to show solidarity to women, life and reform in Iran.

“Our effort here, as Iranians, is limited. You know we cannot do much, we can only be the voice of our friends inside Iran," protestor Shamim Amini told CTV News as to why she was at the rally.

Amini is a U of R student, having been in Regina for a year and a half. In a powerful display of protest, she wore a noose around her neck during the rally.

"It shows, what's happening in Iran, it could be me,” she explained. “I think the Islamic regime has one noose for everybody, it's just I'm lucky, I was not there."

The unrest in the middle eastern nation continues to grow. Those who attended the rally are asking for international assistance.

Souri read a list of demands written by the association of victims’ families. The extensive demands included asking the International Court of Justice to hold those responsible for playing a part in the downing of Flight PS752 as well as all other tragedies incurred against the Iranian people.

They included:

• We ask the governments of the free world to stop negotiations with the Islamic Republic and to withdraw their Ambassadors in protest.
• We ask the governments of the free world to increase pressures on the Islamic Republic to cease all executions and compel them to free all political prisoners.
• We ask the governments of the free world to expel all of the Islamic Republics oligarchs from their countries and implement the same policies that were adopted against those associated with Putin.
• We ask the governments of the free world to once and for all, put the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp on the list of terrorist groups.

Cities across Canada, as well as 26 countries across the world organized rallies on Sunday.

In a show of protest against the Islamic Republic, those gathered in Regina chanted ‘this is not our flag' to the current Iranian flag raised in the international hall

“Because that was something they forced on us, this is not our flag,” Souri explained. “During the correspondence with the University of Regina president, Jeff Keshen, we're supposed to down the flag this week… maybe replace it with our original flag, or maybe wait until the new government comes in and decides.”

Removing the flag is one step towards giving the voiceless a voice, according to those present, and fighting for that voice is something Amini will never stop doing.

"It's my responsibility to be their voice to make the world remember their responsibility, to ask for justice."