McALLEN - The Bahá’í community of the Rio Grande Valley will hold a screening Tuesday at University of Texas Pan-American of the documentary “Education Under Fire.”

The screening is part of FESTIBA, the university’s annual Festival of International Books and Arts 2012.

The documentary was made to raise awareness of the situation of the Bahá’ís in Iran. The Bahá’is in Iran are the largest non-Muslim religious minority. There are about 300,000 Bahá’ís in Iran, but they have no constitutional rights under the government and the Bahá’í youth are denied access to the universities , according to Valerie Georlitz-Ramirez, a Bahá’í follower in the Rio Grande Valley.

To counter the situation, the Bahá’í were educated separately and formed The Bahá’í Institute of Higher Education .

“In the ’90’s, the government raided the little place – a little library and some computers - and confiscated everything,” said Ramirez.

In May 2011, “the government attacked again. They attacked over 30 homes, confiscated computers, materials and put people in jail,” Ramirez said.

“Right now there are six people serving four to five years, and they are crying for education,” Ramirez said.

Nobel Prize Laureates Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu and Jose Ramos-Horta, president of East Timor, wrote an open letter to the international academic community that condemns the acts of the Iranian government and calls for the release the imprisoned teachers.

To sign the letter, go to http://www.educationunderfire.com/nobel-laureates-letter.

 “We are trying to get 25,000 electronic signatures” Ramirez said.

 “We are not going to make our goal if we don’t pick up,” said Ramirez. They need 200 signatures a day, and they have dropped down to 80 to a 100, so the Bahá’í community hopes to educate people and increase signatures on the letter.

She said that despite aggressions committed by the Iranian government against the Bahá’í community, the Bahá’ís have no intention of responding with the same level of violence.

“You will not see any demonstration, you will not see any marching, Bahá’ís just don’t do that,” said Kambiz S. Khademi, a member of the Bahá’í community in McAllen.

“This is one example of how we are approaching it: calmly, peacefully, without attacking the people who do this,” said Khademi. “(But) by wishing the people who do this (will) see the light and change their mind and do the right” thing.

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Martha L. Hernández covers health, business and general assignments for The Monitor and El Nuevo Heraldo. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.