According to Wikipedia (never a wholly reliable source, to be sure), he has been arrested as an accessory to murder and for sexual assault. It says he is a former Ayatollah from Iran who has announced that he is no longer a Shi’ite, but a Sunni. And now he is a jihad terrorist.
He has pleaded guilty also to sending offensive letters to the families of Australian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Imagine: a Muslim cleric becoming a Misunderstander of Islam! How could this be?
“Martin Place siege: Live rolling coverage,” The Daily Telegraph, December 16, 2014 (thanks to Kenneth):
POLICE have authorised the naming of the man who has taken hostages at Lindt Cafe in Martin Place.
He is Sheik Man Haron Monis, who is a self-styled preacher of Islamic State on bail for accessory to murder, is the gunman who was last night holding 15 terrified hostages in Sydney’s Lindt cafe.
A police spokesman said: “There is no operational reason for NSW police to continue to ask for the name to be withheld any longer.”
Five of the hostages fled the Lindt Cafe in Martin Place earlier today.