savethesheikh.com

Sydney, April 1:  Christians in the Dulwich Hill and Marrickville area are staging a 24-hour prayer vigil over the Easter Weekend to pray for the welfare of the local Islamic community and for their spiritual leader, Sheikh Mansour Leghaei.

Representatives of the Anglican, Catholic and Uniting churches as well as members of the indigenous and Muslim communities are expected to join the vigil at the Holy Trinity Church, Dulwich Hill, from 9 am on Saturday, April 3 until 9 am on Easter Sunday.

Dr Leghaei, a moderate Shia cleric, is facing deportation along with his wife and 20 year-old son.  He is a key member of the local interfaith community, which holds dialogues across religious divides to address common community issues such as youth outreach and marriage counselling.

“I’m not trying to downplay the differences between our faiths,” said Father Dave Smith, parish priest at Holy Trinity Dulwich Hill, “but there are fundamental things that unite us that are greater than our differences, such as our commitment to justice for this good man.”

Despite living in Australia for 16 years, Dr Leghaei has been denied permanent residency due to two Adverse Security Assessments issued by ASIO. He has never been told the reason for the assessments and strenuously denies that he has ever been a threat to national security.

Prominent human rights and civil libertarian groups, including the International Commission of Jurists and the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, have raised concerns over the lack of procedural fairness in ASIO’s treatment of Dr Leghaei .

Dr Leghaei has lodged a last ditch appeal to the Immigration Minister, Senator Chris Evans, to allow him to remain in Australia and continue his important work.

“We believe that everybody should have the right to a fair trial, regardless of their race or religion, and regardless of whether they are citizens or not.  This in itself is an issue that should have everyone at prayer,” Father Dave said.

Media are invited to cover the prayer vigil

When: Saturday, April 3, from 9 am

Where: Holy Trinity Church, Cnr Seaview & Herbert Sts, Dulwich Hill

Father David Smith, 61-2-9569-1255 (or use contact form at www.fatherdave.org)

For more details, download the Easter Prayer Vigil poster here

On February 19th Sheikh Mansour Leghaei was given 28 days to leave the country.  That means that as of today (March 4th) he technically only has 15 days left!

We trust that Sheikh will be given a visa extension while the Minister for Immigration considers his formal submission, appealing the decision. Even so, those who would act to protest this terrible injustice must do so NOW!

The most important thing everybody can do now is to sign the Save the Sheikh Petition.  Here’s what you need to do:

1. Right-click here and choose ‘save target as’ to download the petition.
2. Open it and print off multiple copies
3. Sign it yourself and ask others who support the Sheikh to sign it.
4. Send your signed petition back to the Imam Husain Centre by March 14.

nb. The address of the Centre is printed at the bottom of the petition, along with the return date,  so you won’t forget. 🙂

Our hope is that once these petitions are collected we will be able to present them to the Minister for Immigration in person in Canberra.  The trip is currently scheduled for March 17.  If you’d like to join us on the trip to Canberra put this date tentatively aside in your diary now.  Confirmation will be given on this site closer to the date.

Other ‘Save the Sheikh’ activities that are in the pipeline include:

• a formal press conference (probably next Wednesday)
• a supporters BBQ (possibly on Sunday March 14)

I know there’s talk in our church too of holding a 24-hour prayer vigil here at Holy Trinity Dulwich Hill, and inviting the Prime Minister and other Christian political leaders to join us in praying that justice is done.

Updates will be posted to this site as soon as confirmation of events has been given, so stay in touch and keep praying!

P.S. To see the article in the Bankstown Express about the Sheikh and myself, click here.