The Islamic State (ISIS) applauded the Sydney jihadist hostage-taker, Man Haron Monis, in its new edition of Dabiq magazine. Monis, the man responsible for three deaths, received high praise in the ISIS publication, which encouraged others to follow in his footsteps.
Dabiq described the killing of the hostages as a “blessing” and a “noble cause,” and stated that Monis’s acts were an example for other jihadists to follow.
In encouraging further lone wolf attacks in Western civilizations, a passage from Monis’s feature read, “He did not do so by undertaking the journey to the lands of the [Caliphate] and fighting side-by-side with his brothers, but rather, by acting alone and striking the [nonbelievers] where it would hurt them most — in their own lands and on the very streets that they presumptively walk in safety.”
The magazine described Monis as a “pure” Muslim who brought “victory to Allah’s religion.” It continued, “He added his name to the list of Muslims who answered the [Caliph’s] call to strike those waging war against the Islamic State wherever they may be.”
The publication then praised other lone wolf jihadists, such as the New York City ax-wielding Zale Thompson, Canadian Parliament shooter Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, and French knife attacker Bertrand Nzohabonayo.
Before his act of jihad, Monis had publicly pledged to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State. The Iranian-born man was a convert from Shia to Sunni Islam, and followers described him as “Sheikh Haron” or “Ayatollah Manteghi.” Before the hostage-taking, Monis’s previous claim to fame occurred in 2009, when he wrote condemnatory letters to the families of slain Australian soldiers. He wrote to a slain Australian Jewish soldier’s family, “A Jewish man who kills innocent Muslim civilians is not a pig, he is a thousand times worse.”
The magazine also featured an interview with a Jordanian pilot in captivity, whose plane was shot down with an ISIS-fired heat-seeking missile, according to the magazine.