Refugees and a student abroad serve up tears, humanity and grace at Halifax security forum

[applegrove]

Refugees and a student abroad serve up tears, humanity and grace at Halifax security forum

Conference was dominated by discussions security crises in Ukraine and Iran

Murray Brewster · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2022 3:56 PM ET | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/iran-ukraine-protests-security-security-conference-1.6658536

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For Sahar Gholizadah — a 19-year-old visiting Iranian student in Halifax — that day was Saturday, when she gave a tearful hug to Iranian journalist, author and women's rights activist Masih Alinejad, a leading voice in global protests against the Iranian regime, at the Halifax International Security Forum.

"She's one of the heroes for myself," said Gholizadah, who works as a server at the Halifax Westin Nova Scotian hotel, which hosted the HISF.

"She's a lady, she's against the regime and she's doing her best to inform other people [and] be Iranian people's representative, to share our voice [and] what's going on in my country," said Gholizadah, who is studying microbiology at Dalhousie University.

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Their heartfelt embrace followed Alinejad's fiery denunciation of the hardline regime in Tehran during a panel discussion at the HISF. It came as Iran handed out more death sentences last week to protesters engaged in anti-government demonstrations.

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