Muslim cleric hard to replace

THE deportation of a prominent Iranian Muslim cleric will leave hundreds of young Muslims without a moral figurehead, an Islamic council has warned.

THE deportation of a prominent Iranian Muslim cleric will leave hundreds of young Muslims without a moral figurehead, an Islamic council has warned.

Mansour Leghaei, who is due to leave Australia within a week unless the federal government intervenes, preaches to one of the largest congregations of young Shi'ite Muslims in the country.

Dr Leghaei last night delivered what may be his last sermon at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre at Earlwood in Sydney's southwest as he prepares for a last-ditch appeal to Immigration Minister Chris Evans, who can use ministerial discretion to prevent his deportation.

Dr Leghaei has been given two adverse security assessments by ASIO and has failed in a 10-year battle to learn the reasons for those adverse assessments.

He has been given until March 19 to leave the country voluntarily, or face forcible removal.

Sheik Kamal Mousselmani, head of the Supreme Islamic Shi'ite Council of Australia, said yesterday it would prove very difficult to replace Dr Leghaei, who speaks fluent English, Farsi and Arabic and has a congregation of about 1300. The sheik's sermons are so popular that they are broadcast over the internet.

"He can understand the mentality of the youth and can speak with them," Sheik Kamal said.

"The youth will lose someone who has directed them into the right path."

Dr Leghaei entered Australia on a temporary business visa in 1994 and worked as an inspector of halal meat.

In November 1995, he was granted a temporary visa on the basis that he was a religious worker. His application for permanent residency was rejected in 1997 on the basis of an adverse security assessment.

But a translation relied upon by ASIO of a so-called "jihad notebook" that Dr Leghaei brought into Australia from Iran -- which he said were notes made when he was a religious studies student -- was found to be inaccurate.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said there would be a "huge gap" left in Sydney's Shi'ite community if Dr Leghaei were deported.

"He has contributed immensely, not only in the Muslim community but also in the inter-faith community," Dr Patel said.