The gunman who was holding people hostage in a cafe in Sydney was Iranian refugee Sheikh Man Haron Monis.
The 49-year-old was well known to the authorities and was on bail for a number of violent offences.
Monis moved to Australia from Iran in 1996 and it is understood that the siege followed Monis’ unsuccessful, last-ditch attempt in the High Court to have his charges for penning poisonous letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers between 2007 and 2009 quashed.
Monis was sentenced to 300 hours of community service and placed on a two year good behaviour bond for the “offensive and deplorable letters” that he sent to the families of Private Luke Worsley and Lance Corporal Jason Marks, who were killed in Afghanistan in 2007 and 2008, as well as a letter that he sent to the family of Craig Senger, who was killed in the bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2007.
Monis claimed the letters were his own version of a “flower basket” or “condolence card”.
The letters brought Monis to the attention of the police, however, since then he was charged with a number of offences including being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, while most recently, he was charged with over 50 allegations of indecent and sexual assault.
The allegations of indecent and sexual assault are reported to relate to time he allegedly spent as a self-proclaimed “spiritual healer” who dealt with black magic in western Sydney.
Monis, a self described cleric has also gone by the names of Sheikh Haron and Mohammad Hassan Manteghi and he was believed to be living in Bexley North in the south of Sydney.