Australian hostage taker has been identified and he has a troubled past. Yahoo/Reuters.

The alleged hostage taker Man Monis at an anti-war protest in 2009. Yahoo/EPA/Sergio Dioniso

The alleged hostage taker in Australia has been identified as Man Monis, an Iranian refugee that has had several run ins with the law. Yahoo/Reuters. The list of crimes Monis, also known as Sheikh Haron, includes sending threatening letters to the families of dead Australian soldiers to protest their involvement with wars in the middle east, a crime which he was convicted of. He is also accused of being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife and a sexual assault case dating back to 2002. Monis has a website with graphic images of children who were supposedly killed in allied airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. 

My Comment:

No other news about the situation developed overnight except for this and the escape of 5 hostages. The number of current hostages has been lowered to less then thirty. The rumors about a suicide belt seem to be true and Monis appears to be armed with some kind of firearm. Monis has also forced some of the hostages to contact the local media. Who knows how long this will last, but here is hoping that a peaceful resolution will be found.

As for Monis himself he seems like the kind of person that should have never been let into Australia in the first place. At least that is going to be the argument. It is possible that he radicalized in Australia and not Iran. After all ISIS has been in the news and has inspired several other lone wolf attacks.  Either way though this will be another talking point in Australia's fierce debate about immigration, a debate that every Western nation seems to be having. They are more anti-immigration then most countries but this incident may lead to them clamping down further. And to be completely honest, that makes some sense. It might not be the righteous thing to do but it could be the smart choice.

Of course clamping down on immigration won't help much when your terrorists are already in the country. One wonders how a man who is out on bail got a hold in a gun in a country that has extremely strict gun control. That's a rhetorical question of course, guns are easy to find in almost any country if you are a criminal and know where to look for them. In America, a country with strong gun rights in most of the states, there is a very good chance that situation would have been resolved already. We have already had one incident this year where a good guy with a gun stopped a radical Islamic terrorist.  Pity there wasn't a good guy with a gun in this case... 

FAKE EDIT: 

Twitter is lighting up with reports of loud bangs or gunshots at the scene of the crime. 5 more hostages may have escaped. Not sure if we are getting our happy ending here...

UPDATE: CNN is reporting that at the very least two people were injured, possibly as many as four. The threat seems to be over. Sounds like Monis is down.

UPDATE #2: CNN just confirmed that two people have died... and then cut to commercial. Classy CNN. Not clear if that includes the suspect or not. 5 people injured, with one possibly being a cop, according to what i just heard on CNN.