An inquest into Numan Haider’s death begins today
NUMAN Haider was a terror suspect who stabbed two police officers. An inquest starts today looking into what links he had with terror organisations.
HE was killed in a hail of gunfire on the outskirts of Melbourne.
His family thought he was a young man with a bright future, but in reality Numan Haider was part of a ring of terror wannabes and he was only just 18-years-old.
Before he was killed by a single shot to the head on September 23, 2014, two anti-terrorism officers were doubled over bleeding, after Haider drove knives into them outside the Endeavour Hills police station.
One officer was stabbed in the arm and another Australian Federal Police officer was violently stabbed in the head and chest — the pair is lucky to be alive.
Haider was one of many Australian citizens who had their passports cancelled over fears they were going to flee the country to join Islamic State.
Today marks the start of a 12-day inquest into Haider’s death and the court will hear testimonies from his family and other players who were involved in the moments leading up to Haider’s death.
The court has so far heard Haider was shot the day after his passport was cancelled.
He applied for it in July 2014 after his relationship with his girlfriend broke down.
The Herald Sun reported his parents planned to send him to Europe and then Afghanistan to find a wife.
AAP reports the family of Haider told the inquest they were moderate Muslims and feared the 18-year-old was being manipulated by the wrong crowd but in a statement they said they didn’t know police had serious concerns about Haider.
They said they would have acted if they were aware of any extremist views.
“I always told him that you should never involve with bad people,” a relative told the inquest at the Victorian coroners court.
A TERRORIST IN THE MAKING
Haider was a normal teen, living in Narre Warren after his parents moved to Australia from war-torn Afghanistan.
As he was finishing up his schooling, he went from your average teenager to a terror suspect who was being watched closely by police.
Two weeks before his death he visited an extremist mosque in Sydney and the Herald Sun reports former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was in Haider’s sights and was one of his targets.
Law enforcement agencies began monitoring Haider in June 2014 and had urged him to stay away from the Al-Furqan mosque, where he was attending lectures.
The teen was also believed to be connected to prominent Islamic State recruits Neil Prakash and Sevdet Besim.
Prakash is known for releasing propaganda videos online, encouraging young Australians to join Islamic State.
In one of his videos, he praised Haider for attacking the police officers.
It was believed Haider planned to behead them and cover them in an IS flag.
“Look what he did brothers,” Prakash said.
“Now time to work on yourselves”.
Besim was the Melbourne teenager who faced court earlier this year after he was accused of plotting an Anzac Day terror attack in Melbourne, which would have allegedly included a beheading.
During his trial the court heard the Melbourne teen, 19, allegedly discussed stuffing a kangaroo with explosives, branding it with an IS symbol and letting it loose on police officers.
LEADING UP TO HIS DEATH
It all started to unfold in September 2014. Haider’s passport was cancelled due to growing concerns he was a terror suspect.
He posted to social media pictures of him dressed as a jihad, holding an Islamic flag.
Fairfax Media reported Haider also posted threatening messages directed at law enforcement agencies.
That month, following counter-terror raids in Sydney and Brisbane, he stormed through Dandenong Plaza waving a shahada flag and according to the Herald Sun, he was yelling in a foreign language that “your government will pay”
He told police “I’m not going to blow up the shopping centre today” but said they would pay for what happened in Brisbane and Sydney.
The day after he had his passport cancelled, police raided the terror suspect’s bedroom.
This also ended up being the same day he was shot.
The police rang Haider and asked him to meet them at the Endeavour Hills Police Station and he agreed.
Haider turned up to the station about 7.30pm but would not go inside, instead he rang police and asked them to meet him out the front.
When the two officers approached him, one shook Haider’s hand and the young terrorist wannabe drew his knife and stabbed him in the arm.
Then he moved to the AFP officer and inflicted serious wounds.
About 10 minutes after he arrived at the station, Haider was dead.
The court heard today the police officer who fatally shot Haider was acting in self-defence, as Haider was on a stabbing rampage and the officer thought he was going to kill the AFP officer.
The Herald Sun reports in court on Monday, counsel assisting the inquest, Rachel Ellyard, said less than a week before Haider died, a friend asked him about leaving school.
“Who knows if I will be alive by then?” Haider said to his friend.
‘WE NEVER SAW HIM DO ANYTHING WRONG’
Haider’s family, who have remained nameless for legal reasons, have been living in heartbreak since his death.
His parents spoke to the Herald Sun just months after their son was fatally shot, struggling to believe their boy was capable of such brutality.
“He was a good boy, a nice boy,” his father said.
“We never saw him do anything wrong.”
His mother reminisced about how he helped her in the kitchen and she told the Herald Sun he was “a lovely person”.
The parents had no idea their son was linked to a terrorist organisation and they were not aware of clues to his radicalisation.
After Haider’s death, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the attack on police officers showed there were people living in the community “capable of very extreme acts”.
Fairfax Media reported Victoria Police assistant commissioner for the southern region, Luke Cornelius, said the officers had no other choice other than to act in the way in which they did.
Just days after his death, nearly 1200 people lobbied Victoria Police to release CCTV of Haider’s death.
A Change.org petition said the Australian public and Haider’s family deserved to have all the evidence available.
The Herald Sun reports Ms Ellyard said the inquest will focus on the potential signs of radicalisation of Haider and how authorities interacted with him before his death.
The inquest continues.