UAE says flydubai suspect was radicalised in Melbourne as imam responds to allegations

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have said the 29-year-old suspect in an alleged hijacking attempt on a flydubai flight was radicalised while studying in Melbourne. The case has drawn attention because Emirati officials say the man tried to seize control of the aircraft and crash it into Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. A Melbourne mosque leader named in the reporting has now publicly responded, saying the allegations are false.

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In a statement released through state media last week, the UAE attorney-general said the suspect, widely reported as Omani national Hammam Al-Hammami, began to drift towards extremism and terrorism during his time in Melbourne. The attorney-general said he became acquainted with people linked to a Melbourne mosque led by Samir Mohtadi, also known as Abu Hamza. Officials said the suspect had been studying at RMIT in 2017 and later read extremist material and followed online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks.

Emirati authorities allege that Mr Al-Hammami attacked his co-pilot with an axe during the flight, which was carrying more than 170 passengers. They said passengers and crew survived the mid-air incident and that the flight, identified as FZ1073, was saved from disaster. The alleged target was Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, and the UAE described the plan as a suicide attack.

The details have not been independently verified in the supplied material, but they form the basis of the current probe. The case matters beyond the immediate aviation security concerns because it links an alleged attempted hijacking in the Gulf to claims of radicalisation in Australia. It also raises questions about how authorities track suspected extremist influence across borders, particularly when a suspect is said to have moved between study, online activity and alleged contact with a mosque community.

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The mention of an Israeli airport as the intended target adds a further geopolitical dimension to an already sensitive case. Mr Mohtadi has publicly rejected the implications of the allegations, posting a response on social media in which he referred to false allegations and said the righteous will always be attacked. In the video, he did not directly address the accusations against the suspect, but he said people who are righteous have always been attacked, abused, accused, killed and imprisoned.

His comments suggest the mosque leader is seeking to distance himself from the Emirati claims while also pushing back against the public attention surrounding the case. What remains unclear from the available material is the full legal status of the suspect, the evidence behind the UAE allegations, and whether any charges have been filed in Australia or elsewhere. It is also not clear what role, if any, the Melbourne mosque or its leader may have played in the suspect's alleged radicalisation.

The case is likely to remain under scrutiny because it combines aviation security, terrorism allegations and cross-border claims involving both the UAE and Melbourne.

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