To Light A Candle is a film by journalist Maziar Bahari, author of Then They Came for Me, focusing on the Baha’is of Iran and their peaceful response to decades of state-sponsored persecution. The Baha’is are Iran’s largest religious minority. Persecuted because of their faith, they are barred from teaching and studying at University. The Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE) was established in 1987 to give young Baha’is a chance to pursue knowledge and receive a quality education.

The informal courses take place in people’s homes, via mail correspondence and online lectures. The Iranian government regularly raids BIHE classes and arrests its students. Hundreds of Baha’is have been jailed for teaching and studying the BIHE. Yet, the BIHE continues to function and now 79 Universities around the world accept qualifications from the BIHE.

To Light A Candle offers a hopeful story of the BIHE and Iran, highlighting a paradigm shift in Iranian society where influential political and cultural figures are beginning to speak out about the situation of the Baha’is. In 2015 the film sparked the global Education Is Not A Crime campaign for universal access to higher education.

#NotACrime works to stop the human rights abuse of Iranian Baha’is and encourages universities around the world to admit Iranian Baha’i students. Maziar Bahari, a former Newsweek journalist who was jailed in Iran and became the subject of Jon Stewart’s film Rosewater, started the initiative.

Iran’s Baha’is are the country’s largest religious minority. Baha’is are frequently jailed on false charges and denied access to higher education. Thousands of Baha’is are currently studying through an underground education system known as the Baha’i Institute for Higher Education (BIHE).

#NotACrime began in New York City in September 2015 with 11 murals on education equality and freedom of expression across the city, attracting international media attention. Leading street artists from around the world painted artworks designed to provoke conversation about the Iranian government’s long history of violating the human rights of its citizens. The campaign has spread to Rio de Janeiro and Brasilia, Cape Town and Johannesburg, and Sydney. Nearly 100 universities – including several in the United Kingdom, such as University College London and the University of Manchester – currently accept the BIHE certificate.

Azadeh Moaveni is a journalist and writer who has covered the Middle East since 2000. She was Middle East correspondent for Time magazine, and is the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran. She is lecturer in journalism at Kingston University and is working on a book about women and radicalisation.

Director: Maziar Bahari
Country: Iran/United Kingdom
Runtime: 54′
http://www.notacrime.me/
@notacrime

Organised by BBC Persian.

Followed by a Q&A with:

The films producers; Kasra Naji, Special Correspondent BBC Persian and Rozita Riazati, producer for World Service News and Current Affairs;

Dr Naz Ghanea, lecturer in International Human Rights Law, Kellogg College University of Oxford;

Drewery Dyke, Amnesty International Iran researcher.

In 2010, BBC Persian’s Kasra Naji and Rozita Riazati set out to focus attention on the plight of Baha’is in Iran; their goal was to help Iranians understand the Faith and to shed light on the extent of persecution suffered by its members in Iran. The persecution of Baha’is in Iran dates back to the Faith’s creation in the 19th century.  In hopes of stamping out the religion, Iran’s the Shi’a clergy have regularly issued edicts designating Baha’is as enemies of God.  

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, however, attacks on Baha’is in Iran have increased in intensity. The Islamic Republic’s three-decade history has seen many Baha’is incarcerated and executed.  On 14 May, 2008, members of an informal body that oversaw the needs of the Baha’i community in Iran were arrested.  Several times postponed, their trial finally began in January 2010 behind closed doors.

In August 2010, they were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment. On 30 June 2010, the day the BBC Persian documentary Baha’is in Iran was first broadcast, 50 houses owned by Baha’is were demolished in a village northeast of Tehran – driving home the stark reality of the persecution suffered by Iranian Baha’is.

There are still a few tickets left for this Saturday’s unique opportunity to hear WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in conversation with renowned Slovenian philosopher Slavoj

There are still a few tickets left for this Saturday’s unique opportunity to hear WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange in conversation with renowned Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. The discussion, which will be moderated by Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman, will focus on the ethics and philosophy behind the work of WikiLeaks and its effect on political institutions globally.

Next week Colin Freeman will be recounting his experience of being kidnapped by Somali pirates and Peter Greste who has recently been in the country for BBC’s Panorama will be talking about the Somali people’s struggle to forge a life in a lawless land.

For July’s First Wednesday, a panel of experts will be discussing the expansion of kill/capture missions in Afghanistan, their effect on the ground and how they level with counter-insurgency hearts and minds strategy.

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