Sheikh Mansour might have left Australia but controversy remains, and the battle to see justice ultimately prevail is far from over.

This week an excellent article was published by Dr Michael Head – Associate Professor of Law at the University of Western Sydney – entitled, “Asylum seekers and ASIO’s abuse of power“. Dr Head sees Sheikh Mansour’s case as illustrative of the way in which our security organistion (ASIO) has become ‘legally unchallengeable’ – a situation that Professor Head describes as a ‘grave worry’.

Also in the news this week are two excellent articles from Press TV:

• “The Curious Case of an Iranian Cleric” and
• “Iranian Cleric denied justice in Australia“

Yet the final word on the deportation must be given to Mansour’s family – both to his three sons who have been left behind, and to his faith community, who put together the second of these two videos:

To hear the wonderful Tripple J interview with Mansour’s son, Ali, given on the day of his dad’s deportation, click here.

For more articles and videos, I’d suggested checking out this section of the World News site that contains dozens of articles and images and about 50 videos on Sheikh Mansour’s case (many of which I had not seen before).

Having submitted his formal appeal to the Minister for Immigration, Sheikh Mansour Leghaei has broken his silence and spoken openly to Lateline about his concern for his family and his ongoing hope for justice.

Sheikh Mansour’s story has been widely publicised in all the major Sydney papers this week and is gaining international attention.  Amongst other media pieces published this week:

• Sydney Morning Herald: “One last chance for cleric in ASIO’s sights“
• The Canterbury Torch and Valley Times publish “Forced Out“.
• The Australian publishes “Sheik Leghaei wins another month’s visa“
• The Leader publishes “Sheikh fights deportation after ASIO concerns“
• Sheikh Mansour and Ali are interviewed on JJJ Hack Radio
• Father Dave speaks on his relationship with Sheikh on ABC’s The Drum.

And the good news is that Sheikh Mansour has now been given an extension on his visa until the Minister for Immigration has considered his appeal.  The extension currently takes him through to the middle of April 2010