MP to host screening of Human Rights documentary

Neil Parish, MP for Tiverton and Honiton, is hosting a special screening in the Houses of Parliament of “To Light a Candle” - a documentary on the persecution of Iran’s Bahá’í community produced by acclaimed independent Iranian journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari.

The film is being screened on Monday 16th March from 4 – 6pm in Parliament.

The film chronicles how Iran’s Bahá’ís continue to eschew victim status despite the bitter oppression under which they live, and documents the establishment of the Bahá’í Higher Institute of Education, an underground university which enables young Bahá’ís to gain an education, despite being officially banned from universities. The film’s official trailer can be viewed here.

The screening will be followed by an exploration of some of the international mechanisms through which Iran can be brought to account for its ongoing 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. This event is timed to coincide with the second Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s human rights record at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Speaking on the event Neil Parish MP, who is 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 are 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”.