Following the deadly hostage taking by a man of Iranian origin in Sydney, Australia on Monday, Fararu, an Iranian news website, released additional information on the hostage taker on Tuesday. The following is the translation of what the website reported:
An investigation by a Fararu reporter indicates that the hostage taker the Australian police have identified as Sheikh Haron Monis was known as Mohammad Hossein Manteghi Borujerdi in Iran. He once attended Imam Sadegh University in Tehran.
He was admitted to Imam Sadegh University in 1982, the same year the university, run by the late Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, was founded. Manteghi completed his master’s program at the same university.
Toward the end of his university years, he married the daughter of a then university official, but after a while walked out on her and moved to Australia in 1996.
Having been implicated in a corruption case, he fled the country and deceived the Australian government into granting him political asylum. The fact that he had left his wife behind in Iran prompted the family of his wife to successfully apply for divorce in absentia.
After a while, he donned a clerical robe in Australia and set out on a mission to attract attention. After a few years, thanks to mental problems and greed, he developed an interest in Wahhabism.
Most recently on his website, which has been blocked by the Australian police, he identified himself as no longer being a Rafezi (a derogatory term Wahhabis use to refer to Shiites), saying he had converted to Islam. He then changed his name to Sheikh Haron Monis.
During the hostage crisis, he ordered hostages to post flags similar to those of IS [terrorists] behind the glass of the store where the drama was being played out. He also ordered them to contact Australian media and tell them that the hostage taking was the work of IS.
