Melbourne mosque imam breaks silence on flydubai hijack suspect

Samir Mohtadi, who leads the My Centre mosque in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, posted a video in which he invoked Jesus and Mary and said that through the ages the righteous have always been attacked, abused, accused, killed and imprisoned. He concluded that sometimes the best thing is not to say anything, without addressing the Emirati allegations directly. Mohtadi also said worshipping God was a better use of one's time than defending oneself. He and the mosque, which is run by the Islamic Information & Services Network of Australasia, were contacted for comment.

The United Arab Emirates attorney-general, Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, said in a statement released through state media last week that the 29-year-old suspect, widely reported as Omani national Hammam Al-Hammami, started to drift towards extremism and terrorism while studying in Melbourne. Al-Hammami is accused of attacking his co-pilot with an axe in the skies over Saudi Arabia aboard a flydubai plane carrying more than 170 passengers. Emirati authorities allege he was trying to take control of the aircraft to crash it into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in a suicide attack.

According to the Emirati statement, Al-Hammami met individuals associated with My Centre in 2017 while studying at RMIT, and the centre was managed by a Lebanese man known as Abu Hamza. RMIT University has confirmed that Al-Hammami studied engineering there but did not successfully complete his degree. The ABC does not suggest Mohtadi or My Centre radicalised Al-Hammami or were otherwise connected to the flydubai incident, only that authorities in the UAE have raised the connection.

Al Shamsi said interrogators found that Al-Hammami had been inspired by the September 11 attacks, and that he had prepared himself psychologically and physically for the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach. Last week, the Australian Federal Police confirmed it had launched an investigation into Al-Hammami's time in Australia.

Islamic Council of Victoria president Mohamed Mohideen told the ABC he condemned all forms of extremism, saying the Muslim community should not be demonised for the actions of others. He also said the community does not hold other Australians responsible for the Christchurch massacre of 52 people.