[2] Leghaei is known in Australia[3][4] and in the international media[5][6][7][8][9] for his drawn out legal battle, spanning more than a decade, with the Australian Government and its Security Services.
The following year, he applied and successfully received a Religious Worker Visa which allowed him to work as a Muslim leader and travel internationally.
[17] Supporting his application were character references from two members of parliament, Anthony Albanese and Robert McClelland,[18] who has been the Attorney-General of Australia, but at the time was an opposition backbencher.
In the same year, Leghaei established the Imam Husain Islamic Centre with the stated aim of addressing the educational, welfare, and religious needs of the Muslim community.
[22] These appeals failed because as a non-citizen of Australia, Leghaei was not entitled to natural justice or procedural fairness for the reason of national security considerations,[5] and no legal board had the authority to examine the allegations or overrule the ASIO assessment.
[26] In June 2015, the Imam Husain Islamic Centre was to host an overseas speaker, Farrokh Sekaleshfar, who supports the death penalty for homosexuals in certain cases.
[28][29] Due to the nature of the allegations and the law and rights entitled to individuals of non–permanent residency, ascertaining the particulars of the accusations against Leghaei has been limited to Freedom of Information requests[16] and snippets from restricted government, media, and legal reports.
One accusation was that on his return from a holiday in Iran in 1994, Leghaei carried a text he copied from Tehran University, which the Government translated as promoting "violent Jihad"[16] and "the killing of infidels".
[16][30] Another instance is the accusation that Leghaei was linked to a terrorist group in France called Ahul Bayt, due to the naming of the Islamic Centre he opened in Nigeria.
The UN Human Rights Committee established Australia's actions constituted an arbitrary interference with Leghaei's family, in breach of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights ICCPR[35] and summarised in the Committee report, "In light of the 16 years of lawful resident and long-settled family life in Australia and the absence of any explanation from the state party on the reasons to terminate the author’s right to remain, except for the general assertion that it was done for ‘compelling reasons of national security’, the committee finds that the state party’s procedure lacked due process of law.” [35][36]The report further highlighted further breaches in particular article 17 of the ICCPR, which said Australia was obliged to provide Leghaei “with an effective and appropriate remedy, including a meaningful opportunity to challenge the refusal to grant him a permanent visa; and compensation”.
[34][35] Ben Saul a professor of international law at Sydney University who acted for Leghaei in his UN complaint, noted the findings where "...the most authoritative interpretation of Australia’s binding obligations under the Human Rights treaty.
"[34] As a result of indistinctness surrounding the allegations and the lack of natural justice pertained to Leghaei, a number of Nobel Peace Prize laureates and international human rights activists openly criticised the Australian Government for the vagueness of the accusations and the deficiencies in procedural fairness.