Judge back silence on cleric deport From: AAP By Adam Gartrell December 15, 2005 A LEADING Muslim cleric may never find out why he is being deported after a judge today ruled ASIO does not have to disclose why it considers him a threat to Australia's security.
Iranian-born Sheikh Mansour Leghaei, 43, took action in the Federal Court to avoid deportation after the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation assessed he was "directly or indirectly a risk to Australia's security". Mr Leghaei, who has lived in Australia since 1994, says the Federal Government failed to accord him "procedural fairness" when deciding to deport him because he was not told the grounds on which ASIO made its assessment. The Sydney father of four asserted he had a right to know the nature of the material which led to the adverse assessment so he could challenge it. But ASIO claims that telling Mr Leghaei could endanger national security. Federal Court Justice Rodney Madgwick last month dismissed Mr Leghaei's application to have the assessment declared void. Advertisement: In his written reasons, which he handed down today, Justice Madgwick said he accepted that national security concerns took precedence over Mr Leghaei's right to know why he faces deportation. "In my view ... the applicant was accorded procedural fairness to the extent that the interests of national security permitted," he wrote. " ... it appears that it was not possible to put even a summary of the case against the applicant to him without compromising the interests of national security." Justice Madgwick wrote that Mr Leghaei "appears to have performed valuable community services" during his time in Australia. "He has children who have become Australian citizens (and) his deportation may well cause hardship to utterly blameless Australian citizens and permanent residents." But he wrote "a degree of faith must, as a practical matter, be reposed in the integrity and sense of fair play of the director-general". "If this is unsatisfactory, the remedy lies in Parliament's hands." While saying he had no reason to doubt the government's evidence, Justice Madgwick conceded he was "not in as good a position as is desirable" to make a judgment on the matter because he was not privy to all the facts. Mr Leghaei is on a bridging visa pending his deportation. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 1.2 million kids a year are victims of human trafficking. Stop slavery. http://us.click.yahoo.com/U6CDDD/izNLAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
