Unlike Australia, being shortlisted as a student in Iran has a whole other connotation, according to a University of Wollongong academic.Iranian-born Professor Fazel Naghdy said people with political views, social affiliations or religious convictions were denied the right to higher education by the Iranian government."Student activists, women's rights activists, human rights defenders and members of religious and ethnic minorities are targeted, they are shortlisted and they are prevented from going to university," Prof Naghdy said.He said the persecution had existed for at least 20 years, particularly for followers of the Bahai religion.Prof Naghdy said that, to counter the campaign, the Bahai established their own higher institute for education, but with dire results."The government raided the offices and arrested the academics, 16 of them in May this year."Seven of them ... have been given sentences of four to five years each. They're innocent people, they haven't done anything apart from educate people."Prof Naghdy, who arrived in Australia in 1989 and is attached to the school of electrical and telecommunications engineering, said the persecution was not exclusive to Bahais.Anyone who was outspoken with a view contrary to the government was singled out.To reverse the injustice, a world wide campaign, Can You Solve This?, has been activated, and was launched at UOW yesterday.Prof Naghdy said the hope was that people would be moved to protest through emails sent to Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd, Iranian ambassador in Australia Mahmoud Babaei, and Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon."We are trying to give a voice to voiceless people in Iran."People need to have access to higher education and it's not acceptable for any reason to deprive them if they are capable."To assist, visit http://can-you-solve-this.org/au