THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AT 9.50pm tomorrow a plane will leave Sydney carrying Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, two hours and 10 minutes before his deadline to leave the country voluntarily - or be deported.
As many as 500 Muslims and Christians will gather tonight to farewell Dr Leghaei, the Iranian Shiite preacher who has raised his four children in Sydney for the past 16 years, but who ASIO has accused of undisclosed ''acts of foreign interference''.
The supporters will meet at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre, in Earlwood, which Dr Leghaei opened in 1999, two years after ASIO made its first adverse security assessment against him and blocked his attempt to become an Australian citizen.
''If you came to the centre, all you would see is tears and tears and tears,'' he said as he packed to leave this week. ''People are asking why has the government been so cruel to the community, to me and my family without any explanation or justification.''
Insisting he is no spy or terrorist, the banished sheikh will return to his home city of Esfahan, in Iran, with his wife, Marzieh, and their youngest child, the Australian-born Fatima, 14. Dr Leghaei hopes to resume work as a university lecturer while he awaits a United Nations committee's decision on wether Australia has denied his human rights under its international treaty obligations.
He still holds out hope that if the committee finds in his favour, Australia will allow him to return. His three sons, in their 20s, will remain in Sydney. >>> Rick Feneley | Saturday, June 26, 2010
ABC Local: Sheik Mansour Leghaei is Imam at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre in Earlwood in Sydney's inner south west. He has been a resident in Australia for 16 years, and his children regard this country as home. For more than a decade, Dr Leghaei has been contesting in the courts two adverse security assessments issued by ASIO. It is understood the agency believes the cleric works for the Iranian authorities.
As Dr. Leghaei is not an Australian citizen, no reason needs to be provided by Australia's security services for the deportation. As a non-citizen, he has no right to procedural fairness or natural justice in a matter of national security. Dr Leghaei's final legal appeal against deportation was rejected by the Migration Appeals Tribunal last month. He was then given a bridging visa allowing him to stay in Australia until April 19 (just a week away) while Immigration Minister Chris Evans considers his case. Dr Leghaei has one week left on that visa. Otherwise, Dr Leghaei, his wife and one of their four children will be forced back to Iran. >>> | Sunday, April 11, 2010
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