Melbourne man ‘strongly rejects’ links to flydubai attack suspect

Samir Mohtadi “strongly rejects” any attempt to associate him or Islamic centre in Melbourne with the alleged attacker.

A plane, carrying passengers who were on the FlyDubai aircraft bound for Israel from the UAE, which was diverted to Saudi Arabia following an emergency signal [Ammar Awad/Reuters]

A Melbourne man whose Islamic community centre has been linked by prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates to the co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a flydubai jet has hit out at “false accusations”.

The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, had drawn inspiration from Al-Qaeda’s September 11, 2001 attacks, and carried out his attempt “with the aim of causing the greatest possible loss of life”, according to the Emirati prosecutor’s findings published by state media last week.

list 1 of 4 What are the five questions being asked regarding the Flydubai attack?

list 2 of 4 How was Flydubai co-pilot cleared despite being deemed a security risk?

list 3 of 4 Police investigating Flydubai co-pilot’s Australia ties

list 4 of 4 Flydubai co-pilot plotted ‘suicide’ attack on Israel, UAE says

The prosecutor said the co-pilot, who has been identified in multiple media reports as Hamam al-Hammami, first became radicalised while studying in Australia “through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks”.

The prosecutor alleged he was acquainted there with an organisation known as “MyCentre” managed by a Lebanese man called Abu Hamza.

Neither “MyCentre” nor Abu Hamza are accused of any criminal wrongdoing.

In a video posted on social media on Sunday, Abu Hamza – also named by local media as Samir Mohtadi – rejected what he called “false accusations”.

“Right through the ages, those who’re righteous, they’ve always been attacked, abused, accused, killed, imprisoned — and this is the way it is”, he said in a four-minute video shared on MyCentre’s Facebook page.

He did not directly comment on the UAE prosecutor’s claims in the video, but in a separate statement cited by Australia’s ABC news outlet, Mohtadi was quoted as saying that he “strongly rejects” any attempt to associate him or the centre with the alleged attacker.

“The relevant authorities should have verified these claims with me before releasing or publishing such information,” the statement said.

“Throughout my life, I have consistently preached peace,” he said.

“Both in my work and the work of the centre have always focused on promoting peace, harmony, mutual respect and community wellbeing. We unequivocally reject violence in all its forms,” Mohtadi said.

“I strongly reject any attempt to associate me or [the] Multicultural Youth Centre with Al-Hammami. Such claims are unfounded, misleading and risk unfairly damaging the reputation of an organisation that has served the wider Australian community for decades.”

During the September 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the suspect used an emergency axe to attack the plane’s Indian captain, Smit Machchhar, who fought back and tried to call for help.

Another pilot assigned to the return flight who was also on board “noticed the cockpit door opening and closing repeatedly in an unusual manner”, according to the findings.

After gaining entry, he “intervened with the assistance of a cabin crew member and several passengers, and together they rescued the injured captain and restrained the suspect”.

Police and intelligence services in Australia and New Zealand are still investigating the alleged attacker’s links to both countries , where he allegedly spent time as a student and where he completed some of his flight training, according to national broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ).

萨米尔·莫赫塔迪“强烈反对”任何将他或墨尔本伊斯兰中心与涉嫌袭击者联系起来的企图。

一架载有乘客的飞机，原定乘坐迪拜航空从阿联酋飞往以色列，但在收到紧急信号后改道飞往沙特阿拉伯。[Ammar Awad/路透社]

一名墨尔本男子因其伊斯兰社区中心被阿联酋检察官与涉嫌袭击迪拜航空客机机长的副驾驶联系起来而抨击了“虚假指控”。

据阿联酋检察官上周通过国家媒体公布的调查结果显示，这名目前被阿联酋拘留的阿曼籍副驾驶从基地组织 2001 年 9 月 11 日的袭击中汲取灵感，实施了此次袭击，“目的是造成尽可能多的人员伤亡”。

列表 1/4：关于 Flydubai 袭击事件，人们提出了哪五个问题？

问题 2（共 4 个）：尽管被认为存在安全风险，Flydubai 的副驾驶是如何通过审核的？

警方正在调查迪拜航空副驾驶与澳大利亚的关系（共4条记录，此为第3条）。

阿联酋称，迪拜航空副驾驶策划了针对以色列的“自杀式”袭击，这是4名副驾驶中的第4名。

检察官表示，副驾驶哈马姆·哈马米（Hamam al-Hammami）在多家媒体报道中被确认为哈马姆·哈马米，他最初是在澳大利亚留学期间“通过阅读极端主义文献和关注美化恐怖组织和自杀式袭击的在线内容”而变得激进的。

检察官称，他在那里认识了一个名为“MyCentre”的组织，该组织由一名名叫阿布·哈姆扎的黎巴嫩男子管理。

“MyCentre”和阿布·哈姆扎均未被指控有任何犯罪行为。

在周日发布于社交媒体的一段视频中，阿布·哈姆扎（当地媒体也称他为萨米尔·莫赫塔迪）驳斥了他所谓的“虚假指控”。

“纵观历史，那些正直的人总是遭到攻击、虐待、指控、杀害、监禁——这就是现实，”他在MyCentre的Facebook页面上分享的一段四分钟视频中说道。

他没有直接评论阿联酋检察官在视频中的说法，但在澳大利亚ABC新闻媒体引述的一份单独声明中，莫赫塔迪表示，他“强烈反对”任何将他或该中心与涉嫌袭击者联系起来的企图。

声明称：“有关部门在发布或公布此类信息之前，应该先向我核实这些说法。”

“我一生都在宣扬和平，”他说。

莫赫塔迪说：“我本人和中心的工作始终致力于促进和平、和谐、互相尊重和社区福祉。我们坚决反对一切形式的暴力。”

“我强烈反对任何将我或多元文化青年中心与阿尔-哈马米联系起来的企图。此类说法毫无根据，具有误导性，并且有可能对一个服务于澳大利亚广大社区数十年的组织的声誉造成不公平的损害。”

9 月 30 日从迪拜飞往特拉维夫的航班上，嫌疑人使用紧急斧袭击了飞机上的印度籍机长斯密特·马赫查尔，马赫查尔奋起反抗并试图呼救。

根据调查结果，另一名被指派执行返程航班的飞行员也在机上，“注意到驾驶舱门以不寻常的方式反复打开和关闭”。

进入机舱后，他“在一名机组人员和几名乘客的帮助下介入，他们一起救出了受伤的机长，并制服了嫌疑人”。

据新西兰国家广播电台 (RNZ) 报道，澳大利亚和新西兰的警方和情报部门仍在调查这名袭击者与这两个国家的联系，据称他曾在这两个国家求学，并在那里完成了一些飞行训练。