Terrorism Sydney hostage-taker was facing sex assault, accessory to murder charges
Man Haron Monis, the Iranian-born 50-year-old man who was shot dead by Sydney police after he killed two hostages at a downtown Sydney Café, was free on bail in two separate criminal cases. In November 2013 he was charged with being an accessory before and after the fact in the murder of his ex-wife. In April 2014 Monis was charged with the 2002 indecent and sexual assault of a woman in western Sydney. Forty more counts of indecent or sexual assault of six other women were added to the April 2014 case.
A former lawyer for Man Haron Monis, the Iranian-born 50-year-old man who was shot dead by Sydney police after he killed two hostages at a downtown Sydney Cafe yesterday, believes Monis acted alone. “His ideology is just so strong and so powerful that it clouds his vision for common sense and objectiveness,” Manny Conditsis said, calling Monis, “a damaged-goods individual who has done something outrageous.”
Monis entered Lindt Chocolate Cafe around 9.45 a.m. on Monday and ordered hostages to display, on the cafe’s window, a black flag with white Arabic script reading, “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger.” Similar flags have been used by Islamic militants including the Islamic State (ISIS).
Monis, previously known as Manteghi Boroujerdi, emigrated to Australia in 1996 and was granted political asylum in 2001. In a broadcast interview in 2001, he claimed to have worked for the Iranian intelligence ministry and to have fled Iran for fear of his life.
TheSydney Morning Herald reports that at the time of the incident, Monis was free on bail in two separate criminal cases. In November 2013 he was charged with being an accessory before and after the fact in the murder of his ex-wife. Iin April 2014 Monis was charged with the indecent and sexual assault of a woman in western Sydney in 2002. Forty more counts of indecent or sexual assault of six other women were added to the April 2014 case. In 2013 Monis pleaded guilty to twelve charges related to the sending of poison-pen letters to the families of Australian servicemen who were killed overseas. He was sentenced to two-year probation and 300 hours of community service in that case.
The New York Times notes that a Website associated with Monis included condemnation of the United States and Australia for their military involvement against Islamist militants in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Monis is said to have recently converted from Shia to Sunni Islam. Terrorism analysts warn that Monis’s actions may be related to statements issued by ISIS spokesman, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, in September calling on Muslims in Australia to carry out attacks of their own. Conditsis, who represented Monis in 2013 when he was charged with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, said Monis might have felt hopeless. “Knowing he was on bail for very serious offenses, knowing that while he was in custody some terrible things happened to him, I thought he may consider that he’s got nothing to lose. Hence participating in something as desperate and outrageous as this,” he said.
