Melbourne Man Linked to flydubai Attack Suspect Rejects 'False Allegations'

Samir Mohtadi 'strongly rejects' any attempt to link him or the Islamic Center in Melbourne to the alleged attacker.

A Melbourne man whose Islamic community center is being linked by United Arab Emirates prosecutors to a co-pilot who allegedly attacked the captain of a Dubai jetliner has hit out at "false allegations".

The Omani co-pilot, now in custody in the UAE, was inspired by the September 11, 2001, attacks by al-Qaeda and carried out his effort "with the aim of causing the greatest possible casualties," according to the UAE prosecutor's findings published by state media last week.

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The co-pilot, identified in several media reports as Hammam al-Hamami, first became radicalized while studying in Australia "through reading extremist literature and following online content praising terrorist organizations and suicide attacks," the end of the prosecutor's list said.

Prosecutors claimed that there he was acquainted with an organization called "MyCentre" run by a Lebanese man named Abu Hamzah.

Neither "MyCentre" nor Abu Hamza are accused of criminal wrongdoing.

In a video posted on social media on Sunday, Abu Hamzah, also identified by local media as Samir Mehtadi, denied what he called "false accusations."

"Throughout the ages, those who are righteous have always been attacked, persecuted, accused, killed, imprisoned," Drusthaw said in a four-minute video shared on the MyCentre Facebook page.

He did not directly comment on the UAE prosecutor's claims in the video, but in a separate statement, Mehtadi was quoted as saying by Australia's ABC News that he "strongly rejects" any attempt to link him or the center to the alleged attacker.

"The relevant authorities should have confirmed these allegations with me before releasing or publishing such information," the statement said.

He said: "I have always preached peace throughout my life.

Both my work and the work of the Center have always focused on promoting peace, harmony, mutual respect and community well-being. Mr. Mehtadi said: We reject violence in all its forms.

I strongly reject any attempt to associate me or the Youth Multicultural Center with Al Hamami. "Such claims are baseless, misleading and risk unfairly damaging the reputation of an organization that has served the wider Australian community for decades."

During the Sept. 30 flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, the suspect used an emergency ax to attack the plane's Indian captain, Smith Machchar, 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 abnormally".

After arriving, he "went into action with the help of one of the cabin crew and some passengers, and together they saved 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, according to national broadcaster Radio New Zealand (RNZ).