as posted here ... Protesters rally in bid to save Sheikh | Top Stories | BigPond News
About 1,000 protesters have marched on Parliament House in Canberra, demanding a review of the planned deportation of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei.
Dr Leghaei has lived in Australia for 16 years and is the force behind an Islamic centre in suburban Sydney.
Noisy and colourful, the group of Muslims, Christians, men, women and children walked to the lawns of Parliament House where they were greeted by dozens of police.
Hundreds bowed to Mecca for daily prayers as the former Anglican bishop of the Canberra-Goulburn diocese George Browning looked on.
Dr Leghaei has been ordered to leave the country by June 27 following two adverse security declarations from ASIO.
He and his followers have fought the matter at length through the courts and most recently took the matter to the United Nations.
Despite all their appeals, Immigration Minister Chris Evans has remained steadfast in the decision to deport Dr Leghaei.
On May 17 Senator Evans said the ASIO finding was all that mattered.
'The fact remains that he is the subject of an adverse security assessment,' Senator Evans said.
'In reaching this decision, I have acted in the national interest because Australia's national security must always be paramount.'
Ben Saul is one of the barristers who has been fighting the case.
'The evidence has never been tested in an independent court,' Dr Saul told AAP on Thursday.
'No Australian can have confidence that the allegations are accurate.'
ASIO has never detailed its evidence against the sheikh despite support for him coming from as far afield as South Africa and Jerusalem.
Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal was the 13th Episcopal Bishop of Jerusalem and is now a world leader in human rights activism.
'Dr Leghaei is not only not a threat to Australian national security but indeed through his peaceful presence and work both within the Muslim community and with other religious leaders and people, makes a great contribution to Australian society,' Mr Abu El-Essal said in a statement.
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