Sydney gunman Man Haron Monis: self-styled, self-radicalised

Lone wolf Man Haron Monis faced sexual assault charges while working as ‘spiritual leader’

Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee known for sending hate letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas is the armed man holding an unknown number of hostages in a Sydney cafe, a police source said. Video: Reuters

Until his entry into the global media spotlight as the shadowy figure at the centre of the Sydney cafe siege, Man Haron Monis had long been viewed as a fringe figure in Sydney's Islamic community, his self-radicalisation rooted in grievances against the Australian government and increasing marginalisation among his peers.

Even before the siege, the self-proclaimed spiritual healer had achieved a degree of notoriety as the author of 'grossly offensive' letters sent to taunt parents and relatives of Australians killed by extremism in Indonesia as well as troops who lost their lives in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.

Known to the Australian police, he had been consumed by his conviction for the offence – unsuccessfully challenging it in the high court last year and making several vehement and erratic public statements claiming to be innocent.

Monis, who pleaded guilty to 12 counts of using a postal service to cause offence, told reporters outside court at the time that his letters had simply been “flowers of advice”.

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But on top of that, he had been facing a raft of charges relating to his time working as a “spiritual healer” – including 22 counts of aggravated sexual assault and 14 counts of aggravated indecent assault – and had been bailed for allegedly being an accessory to the killing of his ex-wife.

When Monis, who was also known as Mohammad Hassan Manteghi, appeared in court in October over the sexual assault allegations, police had charged him with 40 additional offences. It was alleged that he had advised a 27-year-old woman to visit him at his business in Wentworthville in Sydney’s west in 2002 after she contacted him through a “spiritual consultation” advert in a community newspaper.

He was charged last year with being an accessory to the murder of his 30-year-old ex-wife Noleen Hayson Pal, a mother-of-two who was allegedly stabbed to death and set alight in April 2013.

Iranian-born, Monis sought asylum in Australia in 1996, telling ABC News in 2001 that he fled after falling foul of the Tehran regime, which he said had placed his wife and children under house arrest.

“I can say they are hostage,” he said at the time, having reportedly given himself the title of Sheikh Haron.

As recently as last week, on a website he used to defend and promote himself, he announced that he had converted from Shia to Sunni Islam. That website was shut down as Monday’s siege developed, and police asked media outlets to refrain from giving him a platform.

Within the Sydney Islamic community, leaders of the Shia faith had apparently urged federal police to probe his claim to be a leading cleric, while he was ignored by the Sunni community.

He had no links to the Islamic State terror group, and despite his criminal past was not seen as a likely exponent of the group’s ideology. His self-radicalisation appeared to be rooted in grievances against the government and fuelled by his increasing marginalisation.

One analysis of his actions is that he fits the bill of a classic lone wolf – a profile much feared by security officials. Monis is believed to have been a self-starter, who had attached himself to the worldview of Isis.

Earlier this month, Monis had posted on his website that Shia muslims were rejectionists – a key message of extremist Sunnis in the Middle East who are acting out ancient grievances with the rival Muslim sect along contemporary lines of power and influence.

But there were other hints that Monis had become radicalised: a rambling October letter he penned to the Muslim community rejected the “new religion” of moderate Islam.

“This pen is my gun and these words are my bullets, I fight by these weapons against oppression to promote peace,” he wrote.

An image on the website appears to show Monis wearing the same headband that photographs suggest he donned during the Martin Place siege, reading: ‘We are ready to sacrifice for you, O Muhammad.’

Shortly after Tony Abbott, the Australian prime minister, was elected in September 2013, Monis sent a letter inviting him to a live debate where he said he would prove that "Australia and Australians will be attacked" as a result of the country's participation in the war in Afghanistan.

Manny Conditsis, a lawyer who represented Monis at one point, has described his former client as an isolated figure who might have felt that he had nothing to lose, “hence participating in something as desperate and outrageous as this.”

“His ideology is just so strong and so powerful that it clouds his vision for common sense and objectiveness,” Conditsis told ABC news.

Guardian service