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Australian Hostage Taker Named as Iranian Refugee with Criminal Past

A woman is seen in a window of the Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, at Martin Place in central Sydney
A woman is seen in a window of the Lindt cafe, where hostages are being held, at Martin Place in central Sydney / Reuters
December 15, 2014

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Iranian refugee convicted of sexual assault and known for sending hate letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas is the armed man holding an unknown number of hostages in a Sydney cafe, a police source said on Tuesday.

Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee and self-styled sheikh, remained holed up in the cafe some 15 hours after the siege began.

"There's no operational reason for that name to be held back by us now," said the police source, who declined to be identified.

(Reporting by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

Published under: Terrorism