The alleged attempted hijacker of a commercial flight has never attended an Australian mosque where United Arab Emirates (UAE) authorities claim he was radicalised, the centre’s founding leader says.
Hamam al-Hammami is accused of trying to seize control of a flydubai plane he was co-piloting on Sept. 30, that was bound for Tel Aviv, before being overpowered by cabin crew and passengers.
On Oct. 10 local time, UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi released a statement saying signs of the pilot’s drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged while he was a student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in 2017.
The pilot became radicalised through associations with individuals while attending the MyCentre Mosque, in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows, the statement suggested.
Samir Mohtadi, founding leader of MyCentre Mosque strongly rejected the association with Al-Hammami, suggesting the former RMIT student never attended the place of worship in Melbourne’s north.
“I have never met al-Hammami … and we have no record of him ever attending our centre,” Mohtadi, also known as Abu Hamza, wrote in a statement published to social media on Oct. 12.
“The relevant authorities should have verified these claims with me before releasing or publishing such information.”’
The UAE statement also suggested Mohtadi received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Mohtadi described the claims as unfounded and misleading and suggested they risked damaging the reputation of an organisation that had served the wider Australian community for decades.
“For decades, Multicultural Youth Centre has operated as a registered charity, providing a wide range of community services, including education, gyms, sporting facilities, an aquatic centre, a medical centre, a cafe, and a social and spiritual support for the Melbourne community,” he said.
“We unequivocally reject violence in all its forms.”
The Imam previously broke his silence in a video post to social media over the weekend, stating “the best thing sometimes is not to say anything.”
“They’re going to continue on accusing you, abusing you, making false accusations,” Mohtadi said.
Most of the other content on the mosque’s page is religious or community centric, but a post on Sept. 26 appears to refer to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “the biggest terrorist on earth.”
In early October, the Australian Federal Police confirmed the Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team was investigating the pilot’s potential domestic connections.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils previously rejected any suggestion of a link between MyCentre and violent extremism, saying it had found no evidence that the organisation had ever endorsed, facilitated, or tolerated unlawful activity.
“Attempts to associate MyCentre with terrorism are misleading, harmful and inconsistent with the facts,” it said.
By Eleanor Wilson and Duncan Murray in Melbourne
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