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 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.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4What are the five questions being asked regarding the flydubai attack?list 2 of 4How was flydubai co-pilot cleared despite being deemed a security risk?list 3 of 4Police investigating flydubai co-pilot’s Australia tieslist 4 of 4Flydubai co-pilot plotted ‘suicide’ attack on Israel, UAE saysend of listThe 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.