A leader of a Melbourne Islamic centre allegedly linked to the accused Flydubai hijacker has released a video extolling the virtues of staying silent, without directly commenting on the accusations from prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Dr Hamad Saif al-Shamsi, the attorney general of the UAE, on the weekend said that investigators had traced the ideological and professional background of the 29-year-old suspect and that their findings indicated his “drift towards extremism and terrorism” began while he was studying at RMIT University in Melbourne in 2017.
He alleged the co-pilot, Omani national Hammam al-Hammami, had said that while studying in Melbourne he regularly attended a mosque affiliated with RMIT, and through those visits had become acquainted with people associated with a centre known as “MyCentre”. He allegedly said that the centre was managed by a man known as “Abu Hamza” but the UAE attorney general did not state whether the suspect had ever met Abu Hamza.
There was no allegation that anyone at the centre was involved in radicalising al-Hammami or had kept in contact with him or had any knowledge of his intentions before the 30 September flight.
On Sunday night, MyCentre’s leader, Samir Mohtadi – who also goes by Abu Hamza – appeared in a four-minute video released on the centre’s Facebook page.
He refers to Islamic texts on the virtues of staying silent when being attacked by others but makes no reference to the alleged Flydubai hijack attempt, the UAE attorney general’s statement or to al-Hammami.
“You’ll find those who are righteous you’ll always find have been attacked, abused, accused, killed, imprisoned, and this is the way it is,” Mohtadi says in the video.
He referred to the stories of Mariam, known to Christians as Mary, the mother of Jesus, being subject to criticism and attack but saying “I’m not going to speak to anyone” and “I’m going to fast from talking”.
“There are circumstances, my beloved brothers and respected sisters, regardless how much you explain yourself to people, that’s it, they’re fixated with their ideas and that’s it, you can’t change them,” Mohtadi said.
“So the best thing, sometimes, is not to say anything.”
RMIT has confirmed al-Hammami had studied engineering at the university, but left Australia before completing the qualification. He subsequently underwent flight training in New Zealand and became a qualified commercial pilot.
Passengers and crew on the 30 September flight, which had 182 people onboard, intervened to stop the alleged attempt to hijack the plane and crash it into Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv in a “premeditated terrorist plot”, according to the UAE attorney general’s statement.
According to the statement, al-Hammami allegedly told prosecutors he adopted ideas advocating violence and terrorism and drew inspiration from the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001.
“The idea of carrying out a similar operation using an aircraft became firmly established in his thinking,” the statement said.
Al-Hammami allegedly prepared himself psychologically and physically to carry out the alleged terror plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach.
Australian security agencies launched an investigation after it emerged al-Hammami spent about two years in the country, with New Zealand authorities also examining his time there between November 2018 and May 2019.
On Sunday, Australia’s home affairs minister, Tony Burke, said the co-pilot was allegedly radicalised online. He also said the government wanted to properly screen people at the border and in online settings.