Melbourne imam denies links to suspected flydubai hijacker
A Melbourne imam whose Islamic community centre has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a flydubai jet has said he "never met" the man and insisted he has "consistently preached peace". The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001 suicide attacks, and carried out his…
An imam in Melbourne has denied any connection to Hamam al-Hammami, the Omani co-pilot currently in custody in the United Arab Emirates for allegedly attacking a flydubai captain. According to Emirati prosecutors, the co-pilot was inspired by the September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda suicide attacks and intended to cause the maximum possible loss of life.
Prosecutors further alleged the co-pilot became radicalized while studying in Australia by consuming extremist literature and online content, and that he was acquainted with an organization called My Centre.
Abu Hamza, the Lebanese manager of My Centre who has also been identified by local media as Samir Mohtadi, stated in a social media post on Monday that he has never met the co-pilot. He noted that there is no record of al-Hammami ever attending the centre and maintained that he has consistently preached peace. Abu Hamza added that authorities should have verified these claims before the information was released. Neither Abu Hamza nor My Centre are accused of criminal wrongdoing.
Brief written by urgent.news from Al-Monitor, New Straits Times, Free Malaysia Today — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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