December – 2014 – Mediaboss Marketing

Iran 'sought gunman's extradition'

Man Maron Monis in Sydney. Photo: Nick Ralston

Iranian police had requested the extradition of Man Haron Monis, the gunman who was shot dead in the Martin Place siege, 14 years ago but Australian authorities would not hand him over, Iran's police chief has claimed in comments to reporters.

Monis had committed a number of "violent" and fraud-related offences before he fled the country "in disguise" in 1996, according to Iran's chief of police, General Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam.

At the time, Monis went by the name of Mohammad Hassan Manteqi. He fled first to Malaysia in 1996 and then to Australia, GeneralMoghaddam claimed.

Monis applied for, and was in 2001 granted, refugee status in Australia.

GeneralMoghaddamtold the Iranian Mehr News Agency that Monis posed as a cleric at the time to gain political asylum. Earlier Monis had been themanager of a travel agency in Iran, authorities there said.

GeneralMoghaddamsaid Iranian police spent four years collecting evidence against Monis, before seeking his extradition to Iran from Australia.

But that request was knocked back, GeneralMoghaddam claimed.

"It lasted four years to collect evidence on Manteqi's [Monis'] identification documents and we reported this to the Australian police but since Australia has no extradition treaty with Iran, they didn't extradite him," GeneralMoghaddam told the Mehr News Agency.

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Iran 'sought gunman's extradition'

December 17th, 2014

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Iran says Australia ignored warnings about gunman

Provided by AFP A hostage runs towards police from a cafe in the central business district of Sydney on December 15, 2014

Iran repeatedly warned Australia about the criminal past of the perpetrator of the Sydney cafe siege and called for him to be kept under surveillance, top officials in Tehran said.

Man Haron Monis, the Iranian-born self-styled cleric who died along with two of the people he had taken hostage, was being investigated over fraud charges when he fled in 1996, police said.

But Iran's deputy foreign minister for Asia and Oceania affairs, Ebrahim Rahimpour, said Australia ignored the guidance sent.

"Despite several notifications to the Australian government regarding his criminal background, no attention was paid," Rahimpour told state television late Tuesday.

"We provided information and asked them to watch this person but unfortunately they did not pay attention.

"The Australian government acted very poorly as far as security and protective standards were concerned."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday ordered an urgent inquiry into why Monis, a 50-year-old who was facing serious charges but out on bail, was not under surveillance and how he obtained citizenship.

Iran's police chief, Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam, said Monis was known as Manteghi and managing a travel agency when he fled in 1996, leaving behind a wife and two children.

He travelled first to Malaysia and then on to Australia where he landed as a refugee but later obtained citizenship. An extradition request from Tehran in 2000 was unsuccessful, Moghaddam said on the Iranian police website.

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Iran says Australia ignored warnings about gunman

December 17th, 2014

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Iran nuclear talks resume in Geneva

GENEVA: World powers resumed negotiations with Iran on Wednesday (Dec 17) over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme, more than three weeks after they last met and gave themselves another seven months to strike a deal.

Political directors of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany - the so-called P5+1 - are holding a one-day meeting in Geneva with the Iranians, mediated by the European Union.

An EU spokeswoman in the Swiss city told AFP the talks had begun, without giving further details. No announcements are expected after the discussions conclude.

The US and Iranian delegations met on Monday and Tuesday in Geneva in preparation for the multilateral talks, led by Acting Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Iran's deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi.

The P5+1, which comprises China, the United States, France, Russia, Britain and Germany, last held formal talks with the Iranians last month in Vienna. They failed to meet a Nov 24 deadline for a comprehensive deal with Iran on reining in its nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of crippling international sanctions.

All parties agreed to give themselves seven more months - until June 30 - to strike a deal, although they said they hoped to have the broad outlines hammered out by March.

A final agreement is aimed at ensuring Tehran will never develop nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian activities. Iran denies that it is seeking the bomb and insists its nuclear activities are for solely peaceful purposes.

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Iran nuclear talks resume in Geneva

December 17th, 2014

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Iran claims to have sought siege gunman's extradition in 2000