Sydney: Leaders of the Australian Muslim community have decided not to claim the dead body of the Sydney gunman to offer it a funeral, following which the city's officials said a 'destitute funeral' would be the only option left.
"We don't care about him, we don't know him," Amin Sayed, funeral director with the Lebanese Muslim Association, said while talking Australia's Daily Telegraph.
"Nobody's going to do his funeral, No Muslim funeral home will accept him. They can throw him in the bloody sea", he added.
Last Monday, Man Haron Monis, an Iranian refugee, took a number of captives at the Lindt chocolate cafe in Sydney's Martin Place.
The chilling incident, days ahead of Christmas, took place in Sydney's central business district and barely 400 meters from the Indian Consulate, which was promptly evacuated.
After 22-hour siege, the operation to release hostages ended dramatically with the death of two captives and the gunman.
Sayed said he had had a number of conversations with cemetery managers around the city who said Monis would be buried "secretly" and in an unmarked grave.
"Anyone who does harm to Australians, we don't want him," Sayed, who has overseen Muslim funerals in Sydney for 24 years, said.
"This is not a human. He killed innocent people … even if you paid us $3 million we would not do his funeral."
The body of Monis is expected to be released before Christmas.
"Local health districts are responsible for the processing and payment of destitute burials and cremations in their district," a NSW Health spokeswoman said.
"Where the death of a person has occurred outside of a public health facility, and the police have determined that the state is ultimately responsible for their burial, the local health district will fund a funeral," she said.
The decision by the Australian Muslims is similar to the one taken by the Muslims in India in 2008. The Muslims had then decided not to claim the body and perform the funeral of the terrorists involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
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