According to Mallah, police contacted him several hours after an unidentified gunman took staff and customers of the Lindt cafe in Sydney hostage. Mallah claimed Sydney police asked him for an IS flag, considered to be an extremist symbol. The former terror suspect said he did not have such a flag and offered a moderate Islamic Front flag instead, but the police "weren't interested."
Mallah was charged with terrorism in 2003 after he released a video containing information about his plans to carry out a suicide attack on a government building in Sydney. The 30-year-old spent two years in prison awaiting trial before being acquitted. Mallah has also travelled to Syria to train with Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels.
After that he returned to Australia and encouraged people to engage in extremism and jihad, but claimed to have changed his mind since the rise of the IS and Jabhat al-Nusra extremist groups. Mallah was never charged with inciting jihad or terrorism, nor for the possession of extremist symbols.
At about 10 a.m. (23:00 GMT, Sunday), staff and about 30 customers were taken hostage by a gunman at Sydney's Lindt cafe. The suspect was reportedly carrying a backpack and a device that looked similar to a suicide belt. Shortly afterward, several people holding up a black banner with Arabic writing against the cafe's window were seen. The nature of the banner and its inscription are still unknown.
