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An Ontario NDP MPP is defending her attendance at an “anti-war rally” over the weekend from criticism her appearance could be perceived as legitimizing supporters of dead Iranian general Qassem Soleiman.

“I think everybody knows fully well that I attended a peace rally, an anti-war rally, on the weekend,” Marit Stiles said Wednesday. “There was no terrorist celebrated. It was a peace rally. I’ve attended peace rallies in the past.”

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TheToronto Sun’s Brian Lilley reported that Stiles and fellow NDP MPP Rima Berns-McGown were front and centre at a rally where protesters flew the Popular Mobilization Forces insignia flag — a symbol of an Iranian-backed militia group whose deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed alongside Soleiman.

Stiles said she did not attend a second rally later that day organized specifically in support of Soleiman, deemed a “monster” by U.S. President Donald Trump.