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Sydney siege gunman named as Man Haron Monis

Man Haron Monis has been identified as the man holding an estimated 15 people 
  hostage in Sydney cafe


























 


 By Jonathan Pearlman in Sydney

2:04PM GMT 15 Dec 2014
 



The man behind the shocking siege in a Sydney café was Man Haron Monis, a 
  notorious 49-year-old self-proclaimed sheikh who claimed to practice black 
  magic and was well known for multiple crimes including sending offensive 
  letters to grieving families of dead Australian soldiers and allegedly 
  murdering his ex-wife. 


Monis, a self-proclaimed “spiritual healer”, had a long history of criminal 
  convictions. 


In October, he was chanrged with 40 indecent and sexual assault charges, 
  including 22 counts of aggravated sexual assault and 14 counts of aggravated 
  indecent assault relating to six women. 


In 2002 he faced charges of sexually assaulting a woman and of joining with 
  his current wife to stab his ex-wife to death in Sydney last year. 


Police apparently identified Monis as the gunman within hours of the siege: 
  his appearance closely resembled the figure seen lurking behind the windows 
  of the Lindt café in Sydney, where he took hostages and brought the city to 
  a standstill. He also spoke to police, some of whom would have spoken to him 
  during numerous investigations into his long history of crime and 
  troublemaking. 

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Some of the media reporting on the siege, including the Telegraph, were aware 
  of his identity but were asked by police not to reveal it. 


Dubbed the “hate sheikh”, Monis, who was reportedly born in Iran, first made 
  national headlines after he caused widespread outrage by sending insulting 
  letters and a DVD to families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan 
  and the mother of an Australian official killed in a bombing in Indonesia. 






He was last year sentenced to 300 hours of community service after pleading 
  guilty to sending the "grossly offensive" letters between 2007 and 
  2009. Amirah Droudis, 34, his wife, also pleaded guilty to participating in 
  the abusive letter writing. She reportedly once approached a soldier's loved 
  ones at his funeral. 



A hostage runs to armed tactical response police officers for safety 
  after she escaped from the cafe under siege. Credit: Rob Griffith/AP


Monis, who sometimes goes by the name Mohammad Hassan Manteghi, was charged 
  this year with being an accessory to the murder of Noleen Hayson Pal, 30, 
  his ex-wife and mother-of-two. She was stabbed multiple times and set alight 
  before being found in an apartment stairwell in April. She apparently met 
  Monis following newspaper advertisements in which he claimed to be a 
  spiritual healer. 


Monis has claimed he was framed by the Iranian Secret Police and ASIO, 
  Australia’s domestic spy agency. 


Prosecutors said he constructed an “elaborate” alibi, including deliberately 
  filming a clock, while asking for the time at a swimming pool before the 
  murder and later faking a car crash outside a police station. 


The pair were separated and in a bitter custody dispute. His current wife, 
  Droudis, was also accused of the murder. 


Monis was charged in April with the sexual assault of a woman then aged 27 in 
  Sydney in 2002. She met him after seeing his newspaper advertisement for 
  “spiritual consultation” and he claimed to be an expert in astrology, 
  numerology and black magic. 


During court hearings after his arrest for the letter-writing, Monis claimed 
  he was a peace activist and chained himself to the court, waving a small 
  Australian flag. 


He described his letters as "flowers of advices [sic]", saying "from 
  now on when I want to advise people not to kill civilians I should do it by 
  hand delivery". 


Monis repeatedly refused to apologise and even brought an appeal to the High 
  Court, claiming the letters were “purely political” and should be protected 
  under the right to freedom of speech. The court dismissed the claim. 


His next appearance in court on the sex assault charges was due to occur in 
  February 2015. 






Sydney cafe siege: gunfire breaks out after hostages flee 




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