Melbourne Centre Leader Denies Link to Accused Flydubai Hijacker
Samir Mohtadi, who leads Melbourne's Multicultural Youth Centre (MyCentre) and is known as Abu Hamza, says he never met Hammam al-Hammami. He says MyCentre has no record of al-Hammami attending the centre.
Mohtadi rejected any link between himself or MyCentre and al-Hammami as "unfounded and misleading." He said MyCentre rejects violence in all its forms and promotes peace, harmony, mutual respect and community wellbeing, according to The Guardian.
The denial follows a four-minute video Mohtadi posted on MyCentre's Facebook page on Sunday night. That video made no mention of the alleged Flydubai hijack attempt, the UAE attorney-general's statement, or al-Hammami. In it, Mohtadi said "the righteous would always be attacked," as reported by The Age.
The UAE government alleges the accused Flydubai hijacker is Hammam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national. It alleges his drift toward extremism — violent political or religious ideology — and terrorism began while he studied at RMIT University in Melbourne in 2017. The UAE attorney-general stated that al-Hammami said that while studying in Melbourne he regularly attended a mosque linked to RMIT and met people associated with MyCentre The Guardian.
That statement also said al-Hammami described MyCentre as managed by a man known as Abu Hamza. It did not state whether he ever met Abu Hamza. It made no allegation that anyone at MyCentre helped radicalize him — drew him toward extremist views — stayed in contact with him, or knew his intentions before the 30 September flight.
The case centres on Flydubai flight FZ1073, which made an emergency landing in Tabuk, according to CNN. The Indian captain and co-pilot were taken to hospital after landing. The Omani co-pilot is accused of attempting to crash the Israel-bound flight in a 9/11-style attack, as reported by The Australian, and allegedly attacked a colleague in the cockpit, according to ABC.
RMIT confirmed al-Hammami studied engineering at the university but left Australia before completing the qualification. He later completed flight training in New Zealand and became a qualified commercial pilot. The Australian Federal Police confirmed it is investigating his Australian links, a probe also reported by Reuters.
The broader context here is a clash between a criminal-terrorism investigation in the Gulf and questions of community responsibility in Australia. Prosecutors in one jurisdiction are tracing how ideas may have formed across borders and years. Community leaders in the other are seeking to limit reputational and social fallout while police establish contacts, travel records and timelines.
Looking at what happens next, three tracks will likely run in parallel. The UAE legal process will determine how statements attributed to the accused are weighed and whether further evidence is disclosed. Australian federal investigators will determine what, if any, sustained links existed during the 2017 study period and after his departure. Aviation authorities and airlines will examine cockpit security procedures after an alleged insider attempt against a civil flight. None of those tracks has been resolved by competing public statements so far.
