Thursday, June 3rd 2010, more than 1000 men, women and children travelled to Canberra to march on Parliament House, calling on the Australian government to heed the request of the United Nations and halt the deportation of Sheikh Mansour Leghaei.

The event was covered on a variety of TV News stations and in all the major papers.

Links to other TV and Newspaper coverage:

• ABC News: Sheikh’s supporters protest against his deportation
• SBS World News: Hundreds protest over sheikh’s deportation
• Bigpond News: Protesters rally over Sheikh deportation
• Brisbane Times: Peace prize winner in bid to save sheikh
• eFarming: Sheikh’s supporters protest against his deportation
• Optus News: Deporting sheikh ‘would breach human rights’
• Seven News: Sheikh’s supporters protest against his deportation
• Sky News: Protesters rally in bid to save Sheikh (video not working)

International coverage:

• RFI.fr (French News): L’Australie expulse un cheikh islamiste accusé d’être un risque pour la sécurité nationale (nb. click icon in top-right corner to replay radio interview).

Monday, May 17th – the Minister for Immigration, Mr Chris Evans, decided NOT to intervene in Sheikh Mansour’s deportation process, choosing rather to hide behind the ageing negative security assessment that goes back to 2004.

The Sheikh’s support team, when they announced their disappointment with the Minister’s decision, mentioned too that the United Nations Human Right Committe had already written to the Australian government, asking them NOT to deport Sheikh Mansour until they could take a good look at his case and assess whether his funamental human rights had been violated by the Australian government in the way they handled the case!

Thus far the Minister has shown no indication that he is considering complying with the UN’s request!

The following major newspapers took up the story:

• Deportation of sheikh puts Australia at odds with the UN (Rick Fenely, Sydney Morning Herald)
• Iranian cleric loses battle to stay (James Madden, The Australian)
• Deporting sheikh would breach human rights ( Sarah Gerathy, ABC News)

The story was also picked up by the following TV media:

• SBS 9.30pm news:

• 10 News:

• ABC News

March 2010 – the Australian TV media reports on the Save the Sheikh campaign.

ABC Lateline breaks the story March 8, follow by both Seven and Ten News on March 9.

Channel 7, March 11th, 2010

Channel 10, March 11th, 2010

ABC Lateline, March 8, 2010 (the transcript)

Other major media pick up the story:

The Australian, March 10, 2010: “Sheik in last-ditch bid to stay here“

ABC News, March 9, 2010: “Peace-making sheikh on verge of deportation“

The Australian, March 14, 2010: “Muslim Cleric hard to replace”