Gunman was watched, but then disappeared from list

Monis cleared despite history of crime and mental instability

The gunman responsible for a deadly siege in a cafe in Sydney, Australia, was once on the national security agency's watch list, but was dropped off it years ago for reasons that remain unclear, the country's prime minister said on Wednesday.

Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian-born, self-styled cleric who was described by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as deeply disturbed, took 17 people hostage inside a downtown cafe on Monday. Sixteen hours later, the siege ended in a barrage of gunfire as police rushed in to free the captives. Two hostages died, along with Monis.

Abbott said that Monis was on the Australian Security Intelligence Organization's watch list in 2008 and 2009, but was later dropped from it. The agency had been watching Monis because he sent a series of offensive letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers, Abbott said.

"I don't know why he dropped off the watch list in those days, I really don't," Abbott said.

Monis was convicted and sentenced last year to 300 hours of community service for sending what a judge called "grossly offensive" letters to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009. He was charged later with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife. Earlier this year, he was charged with the sexual assault of a woman in 2002. He had been out of jail on bail.

"We particularly need to know how someone with such a long record of violence and such a long record of mental instability was out on bail after his involvement in a particularly horrific crime," Abbott said. "And we do need to know how he seemed to have fallen off our security agency's watch list back in about 2009."

Abbott - perhaps mistakenly - also said that Monis had a gun license. But the New South Wales police said later that they checked with the state firearms registry and found no record of him ever holding a license. He wielded a shotgun throughout the siege.

"Plainly there are questions to be asked when someone with such a history of infatuation with extremism, violent crime and mental instability should be in possession of a gun license," Abbott said. "We have very tough gun laws, and I guess we can be pleased that he didn't have a more potent weapon at his disposal. But why did he have a gun license in the first place?"

Abbott promised a transparent investigation. The government was expected to release a report in January. He said it was impossible for security agencies to monitor everyone, forcing them to make judgment calls about who posed the greatest risk of violence against innocent people.

Just three days before Monis seized the hostages, Australia's highest court refused to hear his appeal of his convictions for sending the letters.

High Court documents show that Chief Justice Robert French and Justice Chief Stephen Gageler ruled at 9:50 am on Friday that the full bench of their court would not hear Monis's constitutional challenge. At 9:44 am the next business day, a shotgun-wielding Monis walked into the cafe, just a short stroll from the courtroom where the ruling was delivered.

New South Wales state police Commissioner Andrew Scipione said police had asked that Monis not be granted bail, but the court ruled otherwise.

The siege began when Monis walked into the Lindt Chocolat Cafe during the Monday morning rush hour, trapping 17 customers and staff members inside. He had some of the hostages record videos of themselves reciting his demands: to have an Islamic State flag delivered and to speak directly with Abbott. He forced some to hold a flag with an Islamic declaration of faith above the shop window's festive inscription of "merry Christmas".

AP - Reuters

(China Daily 12/18/2014 page11)