TIVERTON MP Neil Parish is hosting a special screening in the Houses of Parliament of To Light a Candle – a documentary about the persecution of Iran’s Bahá’í community produced by acclaimed independent Iranian journalist and film-maker Maziar Bahari.

The film chronicles how the Bahá’ís continue to eschew victim status despite the oppression under which they live, and documents the establishment of the Bahá’í Higher Institute of Education, an underground university which allows young Bahá’ís to gain an education, despite being officially banned from universities.

The screening will be followed by an exploration of some of the international mechanisms through which Iran can be brought to account for its human rights violations with Dr Nazila Ghanea-Hercock, university lecturer in Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Kellogg College.

The screening on Monday is timed to coincide with the second Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Mr Parish, treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Bahá'í Faith, said: “Iran continues to persecute religious minorities, including those of the Bahá’í faith.

“The Bahá’í community faces arbitrary arrest, imprisonment and is denied access to education and the opportunities that learning provides. However, as this documentary shows, there is hope.

“These brave men and women risk their freedom to give young Bahá’ís the knowledge and skills that Iran’s government denies them. Education should not be crime.”