Sdyney gunman: Haron monis

 

 The gunman was identified as Haron Monis a 49year old Iranian who was granted political asylum in Australia.

In April  Monis was  charged with 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.

 Monis,  Haron, pleaded guilty in 2013 to writing letters to relatives of Australian service members saying they were "Hitler's soldiers," according to Australian media reports.

Monis, 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.

He was also facing more than 50 sexual and indecent assault charges and had a conviction for sending abusive letters to families of deceased Australian soldiers.

He was last year sentenced to 300 hours of community service after pleading guilty to sending the "grossly offensive" letters between 2007 and 2009.

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 Haron is a  self-proclaimed sheikh who sometimes goes by the name Mohammad Hassan Manteghi

 Iran says it requested 14 years ago the extradition of Haron Monis, the gunman behind the Sydney siege, but Australia refused to hand him over.

 Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed more about Monis' background in his press briefing

What we do know is that the perpetrator was well known to State and Commonwealth authorities. He had a long history of violent crime, infatuation with extremism and mental instability. We know that he sent offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan and was found guilty of offences related to this. We also know that he posted graphic extremist material online. As the siege unfolded yesterday, he sought to cloak his actions with the symbolism of the ISIL death cult.

His former lawyer, Manny Conditsis, told the ABC that Monis was an isolated figure who had acted alone.