An Omani pilot who allegedly tried to hijack a Flydubai jet and crash it into Tel Aviv airport in a jihadist suicide attack has told authorities he was radicalised while studying in Melbourne and attending a mosque he says was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
United Arab Emirates Attorney-General, Dr Hamad Saif Al Shamsi, on Friday provided an update on the investigation into the incident on board flight FZ1073, which was flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv on September 30.
The co-pilot, widely named as Hamam al-Hammami, allegedly wounded the captain with an axe in an attempt to seize control of the plane and fly it into Ben Gurion Airport, but was overpowered by passengers, and another pilot on board made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia.
Dr Al Shamsi said that prosecutors had determined that the 29-year-old suspect’s “drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia”, UAE state media agency WAM reported.
“During that period, he was influenced by takfiri [radical] ideology through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks,” Dr Al Shamsi was quoted as saying.
“The suspect admitted that, while studying in Melbourne, Australia, he regularly attended a mosque affiliated with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).”
Dr Al Shamsi said Al-Hammami told authorities that through the mosque visits he became acquainted with individuals linked to another centre managed by a Lebanese man, which “allegedly received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood”.
“He also said that he had prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach,” Dr Al Shamsi said.
“In the presence of his lawyer and with all legally prescribed safeguards ensured, the suspect provided a detailed confession outlining his motives and the stages of planning and execution. He admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others, although investigations are continuing to verify this claim.”
The Australian Federal Police said last week it was investigating al-Hammami’s time in Australia, where he studied between 2015 and 2017.
According to tweets from his now-deleted X account unearthed by The Sydney Morning Herald, the alleged terrorist said the five years he spent studying in Australia, New Zealand and the UK were “the golden years of my religious commitment”.
Header image: Left, Hamam al-Hammami (LinkedIn). Right, passengers getting off the plane in Saudi Arabia (social media).
