Iran Condemns Hostage Siege in Australia
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran strongly condemned the deadly hostage taking in a downtown café in Sydney, and said it has on many occasions warned Australia about psychological conditions of the hostage taker.
Australian police stormed the Lindt Café in Sydney’s central Business District early on Tuesday morning and ended the siege that lasted for more than 16 hours. Police sources have reported that the gunman and two hostages were killed, and four hostages and a police officer were wounded during the operation.
Reports identified the gunman as Haron Monis, 49, an Iranian refugee who had received political asylum in Australia in 1996 and was on bail facing a number of charges.
The hostage taker had abnormal mental and behavioral state.
Monis had expressed his allegiance to head of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi in a public statement on November 18.
In a statement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham condemned the hostage siege in Sydney, and said, “Resorting to inhumane methods and creating terror and panic in the name of the divine religion of Islam is not justifiable under any circumstances."
Afkham also expressed her surprise at the inaccurate news released about the hostage taker, and stressed that Iran had repeatedly made Australian authorities aware of psychological conditions of him, who had immigrated to Australia about two decades ago.
