Man Haron Monis (Persian: هارون مونس; born Mohammed Hassan Manteghi Borujerdi; 19 May 1964 – 16 December 2014) was an Iranian-born refugee and Australian citizen who took hostages in a siege at the Lindt Chocolate Café at Martin Place, Sydney on 15 December 2014, lasting for 16 hours, until the early hours of the following morning. The siege resulted in the death of Monis and two hostages.
While Monis had a warrant out for his arrest in Iran, he sought political asylum in Australia in 1996, which was granted in 2001. Monis variously promoted himself as an Iranian intelligence official, a political activist, a spiritual healer and expert in black magic, an outlaw bikie and a Muslim cleric. He told a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with schizophrenia that he had to change his name for "security reasons," variously calling himself "Michael Hayson Mavros", "Sheikh Haron", and "Ayatollah Mohammed Manteghi Boroujerdi".
Monis ran a "spiritual healing" business, telling some women that they needed to submit to sexual molestation to receive treatment. In 2014, Monis was charged with being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife, as well as over 40 counts of sexual assault. At the time of his death, he had recently converted from Shia Islam to Sunni Islam, and attended Islamist rallies promoting conspiracy theories about Australian security agencies. While on bail, and facing a likely lengthy imprisonment, he declared allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Monis was born in Borujerd, Iran on 19 May 1964. He published a book of poetry, Inside and Out or Daroon va Boroon (Persian: درون و برون), in 1996 in Iran. It did not sell well, which disappointed Monis. In the 1990s, Monis ran a company called Salehan-ë Amal (Persian: صالحان عمل), which he used to buy discounted tyres from the Iranian government and re-sell them on the black market. He also ran a charity scam to avoid paying tax.
In 2001, using the pseudonym Ayatollah Manteghi Boroujerdi, he claimed in an interview with ABC Radio National's The Religion Report that he had been involved with the Iranian ministry of intelligence and security, and that his criticism of the regime and secret information he possessed had resulted in his persecution as well as the detention of his wife and children. During an ABC Radio interview, he claimed that his family's detention was a result of views the Iranian government believed to be "dangerously liberal". David Ruteledge, the journalist who interviewed him, described this as "a little bit dramatic."
Australia granted his request for political asylum that year. He claimed that his request for asylum followed the detention of his wife and children by Iranian authorities after he espoused liberal views on Islam. According to London-based Persian TV channel Manoto 1, he had fled Iran after taking US$200,000 of his customers' money in his tourism agency. According to Iran's official news agency, he was under investigation by Interpol and Iranian police at the time he was granted asylum, and Australian police did not extradite him despite several requests. Some commentators have expressed concern regarding this immigration and citizenship process.
Esmaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Iran's chief of police, told reporters that Monis had "a dark and long history of violent crime and fraud" in Iran and had run a travel agency in 1996, before fleeing to Malaysia and then Australia. "It lasted 4 years to collect evidence on Manteghi [Monis]'s identification documents and we reported this to the Australian police but since Australia has no extradition treaty with Iran, they didn't extradite him to Iran". He was protected from extradition by his refugee status.
Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency states that he was "under prosecution by the Interpol" and Iran provided information to the Australian government about his criminal record, mental and spiritual status. Despite this, he was granted asylum in Australia. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham publicly questioned the decisions made by the Australian government after several discussions in which Monis's criminal status in Iran was made "completely clear".
In 1996 Monis migrated to Australia as a refugee seeking political asylum. He used a one-month business visa to gain entry to the country. He applied for a protection visa when his business visa expired, and was granted a bridging visa while the protection visa application was assessed.
From 1997 to 2000, Monis held a security guard licence, which would have let him carry a pistol between March and June 1997.
In November 2000, he chained himself to a pole at Parliament House, Sydney, and went on a one-day hunger strike to draw attention to his cause.
He began to sexually assault women while passing himself off as a spiritual healer named 'Marcus' in the early 2000s.
On 16 September 2002, Monis changed his name to Michael Hayson Mavros. While he was known as Mavros, he seemed to be 'embracing a secular life'.
He gained Australian citizenship in 2004. On 21 September 2006, he changed his name to Man Haron Monis.
Monis was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation four times, and there were more than 40 calls to ASIO's National Security Hotline. The family of his partner called the National Security Hotline in 2010 and were advised Monis "wasn't a threat". Monis had been on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation's watch-list in 2008 and 2009, but was dropped off the list for reasons that were not specified.
In 2009, in Granville, NSW, Monis gave a lecture calling for an Islamic society and taunting foreign governments saying, "your intelligence service is not working properly."
Monis lived in a flat with a housemate for six months in 1998. Monis said he was a senior member of the clergy in Iran, always locked his bedroom door, even when he went to the bathroom, and told his housemate not to bring friends over and not to answer the door if anyone knocked. Monis said that he was in "financial hardship" and borrowed $9,000, which were never repaid.
In 2003, Monis dated Amanda Morsy for about six months, telling her he was Romanian, giving her gold necklaces and driving her to dates in a Mercedes, convertible Peugeot and a Jeep. Monis was unable to be contacted after 8 pm, claiming he was busy with his "spiritual consultation" business. Morsy described him as "secretive", "very reserved" and "formal" and wanting to "fit in". He broke the relationship off after her family expressed reservations about his personality.