Analyst derides Australian government for letting criminal do freely

The hostage-taking incident in Sydney ended on Monday with death of three people including the hostage-taker himself.

Based on reports, the hostage-taker was an Iranian under prosecution by the Interpol. He managed to win an asylum from the Australian government despite his record of over 40 cases of sexual offenses and involvement in murder of his former spouse in Sydney. He was not jailed for all these crimes.

Now, covering up all those years of serious support the Australian government has rendered to the culprit, the western media are trying to bold just his 'nationality'.

The western media are seeking to generalize the vivid personal impressions of a single person to the whole Islamic community especially Iranian Muslims, intentionally ignoring the fact that the man had already declared at his website 'I am not a Shia Muslim.'

Deutsche Welle wrote that the Sydney hostage-taker was an Iranian refugee 'Sheikh' named Haroon Munis who had committed numerous crimes in Australia.

Reuters said that the man who took a number of Australian citizens as hostage in a central Sydney café was an Iranian refugee called Haroon Munis.

However, the western media tend to ignore the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran for over two decades has been asking Australian officials via Interpol to hand over the culprit to the Iranian police but eventually met with the decision of the Australian government to grant asylum to him. Even after his involvement in a murder case, the Sydney police let him free.

The Australian police had to confess on Monday that 'Mohammad Hassan Manteqi' who had changed his identity into 'Sheikh Haroon' and worn a cleric attire killed his former spouse in accomplice with his second wife and then burned her body.

He was then released on bail.

The website of the Australian newspaper 'The Age' pointed out that the Iranian-born Australian was charged with more than 50 cases of sexual harassments.

BBC TV and radio channels as well as its internet website on Monday morning just pointed out that the man involved in the hostage taking incident was identified as an 'Iranian'.

It failed to mention that Iran has been requesting the Australian government via the Interpol to extradite the culprit.

The US-affiliated 'Radio Farda' followed an identical style in covering the news, just saying that the police sources in Australia have identified the hostage taker as a 50-year-old Iranian refugee who had a record of multiple offenses with the Australian police.

Like BBC, however, it refused to mention that the hostage taker was by the time of the incident an Australian national who fled Iran over two decades ago and was not extradited to Iran because of the support he received from the Australian government.

Despite all information provided to the Australian government about the mental and spiritual status of the hostage taker who arrived in Australia nearly two decades ago, the Australian government decided to support him and even release him from detention when he was charged with murder of his former wife.

Iran has vigorously condemned the hostage-taking incident in Sydney.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham condemned hostage taking in Australia and said resorting to inhuman methods and causing horror was not acceptable under any circumstances especially in the name of religion.

She wondered about the reasons behind 'unclear and vague news about the Iranian refugee' named as the hostage taker.

She said the psychological conditions of the man, who received asylmn from Australia two decades ago, had been discussed several times with the Australian officials.

Afkham said that the criminal record of the hostage taker had been completely clear to the Australian government.

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