MAN HARON MONIS
- Born 1964, Iran. Claimed to be a sheikh and an ayatollah with connections to Iranian secret service.
- Arrived Australia 1996.
- Claimed asylum on grounds of political persecution. Inquest hears otherwise.
- Said to be intensely secretive, with no close friends.
- Convicted of sending hateful letters to families of dead Australian soldiers.
- Lost High Court appeal against sentence three days before siege.
BAIL
- Granted or extended three times in the year before siege (Dec 2013 on accessory to murder charge of his ex-wife; May 2014 on three sexual assault charges; Oct 2014 on 37 more sexual assault charges).
- Coroner asked whether a "causal link" could be made between Monis's bail and the deaths of two hostages.
GUN
- Sawn-off 12-gauge shotgun had been in Australia for more than 50 years and never registered.
- One of the estimated 250,000 guns on the black market in Australia.
MONIS and TERRORISM
- No proven direct links to Islamic State.
- Four Australian experts said Monis mentally ill and motivations were personal not political.
- US terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman said siege "overwhelmingly" an act of terror.
ASIO:
- Phoned ASIO on several occasions claiming to have information about terror attacks.
- Information deemed useless after interview.
- Security status changed several times but assessed as posing no risk of political violence.
- Closed hearings to examine how ASIO dealt with criminal charges and online threats - information may never be made public.
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