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Ali Leghaei – Sheikh Mansour’s son – has started a petition, asking the Australian Minister for Immigration to accede to the directions of the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) by reassessing his father’s case.

Click here or the pic to sign the petition now.

It’s been more than a year since Sheikh Mansour Leghaei was forced to depart Austarlia as an alleged security risk, having never been told what it was that he was supposed to have done wrong! Mansour lives quietly with his family but his friends in Australia have by no means given up on his return.

Complaints over Mansour’s treatment by the Australian government were made to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) early in  2010, but we still await a final ruling.  The Austarlian government did eventually make a response to questions posed by the UNHRC. Sheikh Mansour’s team in Australia subsequently responded to the Australian government’s response. The case is before the UNHRC and we await a final ruling with a great degree of confidence.

In the meantime questions continue to be raised about the role of ASIO in Australia. They seem to be accountable to no one – pursuing people for reasons that often prove to be completely erroneous, and making assessments of people that can destroy people’s lives but which they never have to prove.

The following 7.30 Report segement was put together by Greg Miskelly:

The October 21st deadline has past and the Australian government has not responded to the United Nations Human Rights Committee regarding their treatment of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei.

Scott Ludlum of The Greens has questions pending in Parliament, calling on the government to account for its actions.  Meanwhile Associate Professor Ben Saul has addressed members of the legal fraternity on this issue and has published a paper that gives a comprehensive examination of the legal dimensions of the case, entitled “The Kafka-esque Case of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei: The Denial of the International Human Right to a Fair Hearing in National Security Assessments and Migration Proceedings in Australia”

You can pick up a PDF version of Ben Saul’s paper here.

Friday, September 10th, was the celebration of Eid, ending the month of Ramadan, and a large group of worshippers gathered at the Imam Hussein Islamic Centre in Earlwood.  With them once again was the familiar figure of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, offering encouragement and spiritual guidance to the group.  But this time he was (sadly) not with them in body but was joining in via the miracle of Skype.

In point of fact this was not the first time that Sheikh Mansour has addressed the congregation at the Imam Hussein Centre since he was deported on June 27th, 2010.  Current technology does in fact make it entirely straightforward for Mansour to be able to teach and to interact with the Earlwoood congregation whenever they choose – and it’s all done from the comfort of his study in Esfahan.

Rick Fenely reports for the Sydney Morning Herald

This is a post I had hoped to avoid making.  There will be a farewell for Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, his wife Marziah, and his daugther Fatima, on Saturday June 26 at 8pm.

The gathering will take place at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre (6 Lang Road, Earlwood). It will not include dinner as the team felt that numbers would be impossible to estimate and probably impossible to cater for.

Everyone is invited. It will be a painful time in so many ways, and yet we intend to close this chapter of our campaign with dignity and thankfulness, believing that the battle for Mansour’s fundamental human rights can yet be won, and that our relationship with him is by no means over, even if, for a time, he will not be with us in person.