Winnipeggers rally for Afghan woman killed after alleged Qur'an burning

Dozens of Winnipeggers rallied on Friday in honour of an Afghan woman who was thrown off a building, run over with a car, set on fire and thrown into the Kabul River by a mob of men who accused her of burning pages of the Qur'an.

Farkhunda, a 27-year-old religious scholar from Afghanistan, was killed March 19 in Kabul. Her brutal killing was caught on cellphone by witnesses and drew condemnation from Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan.

On Friday evening, Winnipegger Ariana Yaftali and others rallied outside the Manitoba Legislature to raise awareness for Farkhunda's death and to protest violence against women around the world.

"If we don't speak today, this is going to happen for my child, who is right now six years old. I want to have a safer place for her when she grows up," said Yaftali, who organized the event.

Yaftali is also a co-founder of the Afghan-Canadian Women's Organization and a member of the Institute for International Women's Rights. She said she hopes women around the world will unite and speak out about the barbaric act that took Farkhunda's life.

"It has been really, really depressing," she said. "Personally, when I heard it on March 19, I was in disbelief. I was shocked."

The murdered woman and other women who are victims of violence were honoured at the event, which started at 6 p.m.

As well, those who participated in the rally added their voices to the growing call for a national inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women in Canada.

Yaftali said ending violence against women starts with educating people about respect.

"We have to talk about that respect, you know? We have to educate our brothers, we have to educate our fathers," she said.

"We have to respect each other. Just because you've got a strong body, it doesn't mean that you have to abuse women."