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Urgent review ordered into background of Sydney siege gunman

An urgent review has been ordered by the Australian government to answer a number of "obvious questions" about what could have been done to prevent the deadly siege at a Sydney café.

It comes as police in Sydney revealed they fought to keep gunman Man Haron Monis, who went on to kill two hostages in a 16-hour siege, in custody - but were overruled by the courts, police chiefs have revealed.

The 50-year-old gunman, who died as police stormed the building, was implicated in a string of serious crimes but had still been granted bail.

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Brother-in-law of hostage 'watched siege unfold on TV'

The brother-in-law of one of the hostages involved in the Sydney cafe siege has described how he broke down in tears after watching the story unfold on TV.

Michael Mickhael, who lives in Ottawa, Canada, told CBC he screamed before breaking into tears when he saw his sister-in law Marcia Mickhael being carried by emergency services after suffering a leg injury during the siege.

Mr Mickhael said: "All of a sudden I saw ... they are carrying her and from her face, I knew that was Marcia and I was relieved at that time.

"I kind of screamed, 'Oh, this is Marcia. Thank God she's alive and I hope everybody will be alive and not [in] captivity and no-one will die.' Then I broke down in tears.

"All you think is the bad things [like] she might not make it, she may die, she may suffer."

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