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