After 16 hours, the standoff between a gunman who had held as many as
15 hostages in a Sydney chocolate shop and the cops has ended.
Heavily armed cops stormed the Lindt Chocolat Cafe early Tuesday after
a handful of hostages were seen running away. The gunman, identified
as Man Haron Monis, was shot dead by cops, Sky News reported.
He (Haron Monis) is also known as Sheikh Haron, a self-styled Muslim
cleric and Iranian refugee who pleaded guilty last year to writing
offensive letters to the families of Australian service members,
Australian media said.
For that offense, he received 300 hours of community service, the
Weekend Australian reported.
In 2013, he was charged with being an accessory to the murder of his
ex-wife, according to Australian news reports that say he has been
free on bail.
In April, sex crimes detectives arrested Monis and charged him with
sexually assaulting a woman in western Sydney in 2002, according to
The Sydney Morning Herald. Other sex-related charges were added
regarding six additional victims, the newspaper said. Police
reportedly said Monis was using the name Mohammad Hassan Manteghi and
claimed to be a "sexual healer."
There is a pledge of allegiance to the so-called Islamic State terror
group on what appears to be Monis' website.
The site says Monis is a Muslim cleric and activist based in Sydney
who has "continuously been under attack & false accusation by the
Australian government & media since he started his political letter
campaign from 2007."
There's a graphic photo of slain children at the top of the site.
Under the image, it reads, "This is an evidence for the terrorism of
America and its allies including Australia. The result of their
airstrikes."
The site describes Monis as a victim of a political vendetta and
compares him to Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who has claimed
the sex crime allegations he faces are politically motivated.
A YouTube video posted in November shows him standing on a street
corner, chains draped over him, carrying a sign that says, "I have
been tortured in prison for my political letters."
