The Flydubai jihadist was radicalised in Australia at a Muslim Brotherhood centre.
The UAE Prosecutor's Office explains that the co-pilot had contact with people linked to an Islamic centre in Melbourne.
Md Shaifuzzaman Ayon / CC BY-SA 4.0
On 30 September, a jihadist co-pilot of Flydubai He tried to crash a plane with more than 170 people on board into Tel Aviv airport.. Hamam al-Hammami, 29, attacked the commander with an axe to seize the controls. The crew and several passengers managed to subdue him and avert a massacre. According to the United Arab Emirates Prosecutor's Office, He wanted to repeat the 11 September 2001 attacks..
The investigation has led the authorities to Australia., where the co-pilot began to radicalise in 2017. This Saturday, 10 October, the Australian press has revealed his connection to MyCentre, an Islamic centre in Melbourne. accused of links with the Muslim Brotherhood. The accusation comes from the Attorney General's Office of the United Arab Emirates, which on 9 October made public the co-pilot's testimony. According to investigators, Hamam al-Hammami stated that MyCentre received support from an association linked to the Muslim Brotherhood..
MyCentre, the Islamic centre in Melbourne, under suspicion
The Australian newspaper The Australian has published an investigation into the co-pilot's contacts with MyCentre, an Islamic centre located in Broadmeadows, north of Melbourne. According to the UAE Prosecutor's Office, Hamam al-Hammami frequented a mosque linked to RMIT University. There he met people associated with MyCentre during the period when he began to radicalise.
The centre is run by the Lebanese Samir Mohtadi, known as Sheikh Abu Hamza. Abu Hamza had already been denounced in the Victorian Parliament for his statements against Jews. In June 2025, MP David Davis attributed antisemitic remarks to him and claims that Islam was at war with Australia. He also demanded explanations about a grant of 250,000 Australian dollars for MyCentre. The Minister for Multicultural Affairs, Ingrid Stitt, did not elaborate on the payment or on Abu Hamza's public statements against Jews.
Jihadist trained in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom
Hamam al-Hammami, 29, is a citizen of Oman but was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother. He studied in three Western countries before becoming a commercial pilot.. He went to Australia and New Zealand and obtained a distance-learning degree from a British university. Al-Hammami had access to first-rate international training valued at around $250,000. According to investigators, He had chosen the profession of pilot with the aim of using a commercial aeroplane to carry out an attack similar to those of 11 September..
According to the UAE Prosecutor's Office, it was precisely during his stay in Australia that he began to radicalise. While studying at a Western university, He frequented a mosque in the university area and came into contact with people linked to MyCentre.. Years later, he worked for Oman Air, Royal Air Maroc and finally Flydubai.
Threats against women, hatred of Jews and contempt for homosexuals
Al-Hammami's extremist ideas were no secret. The co-pilot had posted them on social media. threats of violence against women, antisemitic messages and homophobic comments. An investigation into nearly 3,000 posts on his former X account revealed that he advocated the mistreatment of women and expressed sympathy for punishments based on strict interpretations of Sharia.
In one of the messages, he threatened a woman that he would trample on her head, drag her across the floor, make her an example to the others and then divorce her. Also He attacked women who worked outside the home and despised feminism.. His messages included expressions of hatred towards Jews and homosexuals. He wrote all this years before the attempted attack, while building his career as a commercial pilot.
Oman Air had already suspended him for extremism.
Al-Hammami's extremist ideas had already caused problems during his time at Oman Air. According to an investigation published by Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Omani company removed him from flying duties due to his radical views.. Despite this background, he continued his aviation career. He worked briefly for Royal Air Maroc and, in January 2026, was hired by Flydubai, which states that he had passed the professional and security checks.
The case of al-Hammami exposes a disturbing contradiction. He gained access to Western universities, received international aeronautical training and learned to fly aeroplanes thanks to technology developed over decades of Western scientific and industrial progress. He then tried to use this knowledge and the same technology to murder hundreds of people. A training course intended to open up professional opportunities became, in his hands, an instrument for preparing a jihadist attack.
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