November 27-2015
An Australian national security hotline received18 warnings about gunman Man Haron Monis in the 150 hours before he launched his siege in Sydney last December.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) and the state police in New South Wales (NSW) decided he was not a threat.
It wasn’t announced how many of the 18 warnings came from Iranians in Australia, who would have been the people most likely to see the angry Facebook postings that prompted the 18 warnings that he was dangerous.
The information was presented at the third series of hearings into the siege. That series began last Wednesday and is focused on whether ASIO did enough to track Monis.
The legal counsel assisting the inquest, Jeremy Gormly, said ASIO examined Monis’ Face-book page three times after the hotline received the warnings starting on December 9 last year, six days before the siege.
“The analyst concluded that the posts did not indicate a desire or intent to engage in politically motivated violence,” Gormly said.
NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police also found the Facebook posts “contained no indications of an imminent threat. Nor were the postings assessed to meet the threshold for prosecution under the new ‘advocacy of terrorism’ legislation,” Gormly said.
ASIO had been aware of Monis since 1996, when he emigrated from Iran.
The spy agency made one adverse security assessment of Monis in 1998, but it did not relate to a terrorism threat, the inquest heard. That assessment was later overturned after further investigation.
ASIO came to know Monis well as he frequently contacted it in what amounted to “little more than nuisance calls.”
Monis offered, over the phone and in person, to provide information about overseas terrorism, such as the September 11 attacks and the London bombings.
In 2007, he claimed he wanted to become a Muslim leader to steer young people away from terrorism. In the same meeting, he gave ASIO a three-page document setting out a plan for him to become a security source. ASIO declined the offer.
Inflammatory comments from Monis in 2008 drew the attention of intelligence operatives, but they saw no specific threat. “While [Monis] endeavors to use language that is ambiguous and open to interpretation, he makes sure not to cross any lines and tries to ensure he can protect himself from allegations of inciting terrorism,” one report concluded.
The inquest will conclude with an eight-week hearing beginning next March. That hear-ing will focus on the police operation during the siege itself.