The gunman holding multiple hostages in a Sydney café has been identified as 49-year-old Man Haron Monis, an Iranian immigrant to Australia dubbed the “hate sheikh” by the media for harassing the families of Australian soldiers who died in Afghanistan.
A self-styled Islamic cleric and “spiritual healer,” Monis has a long rap sheet — including at least a dozen sexual-assault charges and accessory charges to the murder of his ex-wife, who was found stabbed and set alight in a stairwell last year. His new wife has been charged with the murder.
The Iranian earned the ire of Australian media by sending a series of hate messages to the families of dead Australian soldiers, accusing the deceased of being “murderers” and child-killers during their tours in Afghanistan. Monis was charged and convicted under Australian hate-speech laws for the letters.
Monis took up to thirty hostages at Sydney’s Lindt Chocolat Cafe at around 9 A.M. local time Monday morning, displaying an Islamic State flag and asking to speak directly to the Australian prime minister. Though some hostages managed to escape, as of around 2 A.M. Tuesday a number of them remained inside the café.