Dr Sheikh Mansour Leghaei (born 1962) is the founder and a director of the Imam Husain Islamic Centre and the School of Islamic Theology in Earlwood, Australia, serving as the imam from 1997–2010. He previously served in Nigeria, where in 1992 he opened an Education Centre called Ahul Bayt. Leghaei is known in Australia and in the international media for his drawn out legal battle, spanning more than a decade, with the Australian Government and its Security Services. Leghaei challenged the government's security assessment of him in his bid to gain permanent residency. The case often draws parallels in the media and by his lawyers as a real life narrative of the novel The Trial by Franz Kafka, because the allegations, or the nature of the allegations against him, have never been revealed by the authorities and become a subject of discussion within the UNSW Law Journal Leghaei is seen as a prominent member within the interfaith communities and was the chairman of the Marrickville Interfaith Round Table. Leghaei has attended a number of seminars to provide an Islamic perspective, including the Ecumenical Service on the Dead Sea Scrolls held at the Sydney Art Gallery, "Religious Therapy" on the occasion of World Cancer Day at the University of Sydney and "Spirituality of Great Traditions" at St. James' Church. Early life and education Leghaei was born in Abadan, Iran, to a religious Shia family. He earned a PhD in Islamic Theosophy from the University of Qom, where he studied under a number of renowned scholars including, the Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid Khorasani, Grand Ayatollah Mousa Shubairi Zanjani, Ayatollah Hassan Hassanzadeh Amoli, Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, Ayatollah Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi, Sheik Mohammad Bahjat, and the late Ayatollah Bahrol-Oloom Mirdamadi. Nigeria In 1992, Leghaei began his overseas religious services in Kano, Nigeria where a significant Shia minority exists. During this period Leghaei founded an education centre called Ahlul Bayt. Ahlul Bayt is a commonly used Islamic term referring to the "House (family) of the Prophet". However, in 1993, due to increasing violence in Nigeria, Leghaei returned to Iran with his family. Australia According to documents rendered to the Federal Court of Australia, Leghaei with his family first arrived in Australia in 1994 under a Short Stay Business Visa and was employed as a Halal meat supervisor. The following year, he applied and successfully received a Religious Worker Visa which allowed him to work as a