If indeed this is the guy behind the hostage-taking incident in Sydney, he’s a real fucking headcase.

The man behind the Sydney cafe siege is reported to be 49-year-old self-styled ‘Muslim cleric and peace activist’ named Man Haron Monis, who is currently on bail facing dozens of charges of indecent and sexual assault.

Monis, who also goes by the names Mohammad Hassan Manteghi and Manteghi Boroujerdi, was infamously involved in sending ‘grossly offensive’ letters to parents and relatives of Australian victims of terrorism and troops killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. He unsuccessfully challenged the conviction in the high court last year.

The Iranian-born man, who apparently converted from Shia Islam to Sunni only last week, has also been accused of being an accessory in the killing of his ex-wife, a charge for which he remains on bail.

He told ABC News in 2001 that he fled Australia five years earlier after falling foul of the Iranian regime, which he said had placed his wife and children under house arrest. ‘I can say they are hostage,’ he said at the time.

A fringe figure in Australia’s Muslim community, Monis has been spurned by Shia leaders, who have reportedly urged federal police to investigate the man over his claims to be an ayatollah, or Shia cleric.

According to a post on his website, Monis converted to Sunni Islam in December, labelling Shia Muslims as ‘rejectionists’.

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 the prime minister, Tony Abbott, 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.

theguardian.com