Man Haron Monis, the sole perpetrator of the Sydney siege was known to police officers as a deeply disturbed man. He has numerous pending cases with the authorities including the killing of his former wife.
His lawyer, Manny Conditsis, said in an interview that "This guy was on the fringe of the fringe" and added "He wasn't accepted by anybody." Conditsis described the infamous Sydney siege as "the ultimate cry for attention."
CCTV footages shows Monis entering the Lindt Café located on Martin Place, Sydney about 9:45 Monday morning taking with whim 17 hostages. Five of the hostages later escaped. Monis had a black flag with white Arabic script written on it. It looks very similar to the one used by several Islamic radical fighters all over the globe. It was later place in one of the café's windows.
Another infamous act of Haron was a hate-mail campaign against several Australian soldiers. Together with a collaborator, Amirah Droudis, they sent numerous mails to families of killed servicemen while serving in Afganistan. In those letters, Haron called the soldiers murderer and even insisted the families to send petition to the Australian government to pull its troops in Afganistan. He was later arrested and was charged with "using postal or similar service menace, harass or cause offence." Haron pleaded that he just a peace activist and ultimately got the case dismissed by the Australian court. Haron also faced charges from the authorities for the murder of his ex-wife in their Werrington apartment staircase. He allegedly stabbed his then wife Noleen Hayson Pal and set her on fire after.
Monis was also charged with several sexual offenses from various women. The most recent was filed last April. 40 additional counts of sexual assaults from six different women were added later on.
Man Haron Monis who also goes by the names Mohammad Hassan Manteghi, Ayatollah Manteghi Boroujerdi and Sheikh Haron immigrated to Australia from Iran in 1996.
