Iran condemns deadly Australia hostage-taking
AFP
December 15, 2014 04:26 MYT
December 15, 2014 04:26 MYT
A picture made available Dec 15, 2014 shows Muslim cleric Man Haron Monis arriving to the Downing Centre after a pre-trial hearing of his case in 2011. - EPA/Dean Lewis
Tehran on Monday condemned the deadly hostage-taking in Australia reportedly by an Iranian-born gunman, branding it an act foreign to Islam, state media quoted a government official as saying.
"Undertaking such inhuman acts and provoking fear and panic in the name of merciful Islam is not in any way justifiable," foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said, according to IRNA news agency.
The hostage-taker, Man Haron Monis, a 50-year-old Iranian who was granted political asylum in Australia in 1996, was among three people killed when police stormed a central Sydney cafe early Tuesday to free 17 hostages.
Two of the hostages also died.