Denis Michael Rohan
Denis Michael Rohan (born 1 July 1941, died 2009–2019) was an Australian arsonist responsible for the Al-Aqsa mosque fire, which took place in Jerusalem on 21 August 1969.
Denis Michael Rohan | |
|---|---|
Rohan on trial in Israel, 7 October 1969 | |
| Born | 1 July 1941 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Known for | 1969 arson attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque |
His attack on Al-Aqsa Mosque, which began after he set fire to the Minbar of Saladin, inflamed tensions across the Muslim world and triggered the most high-level crisis in the Middle East since the 1967 Arab–Israeli War.
Rohan was arrested by Israeli authorities on 23 August 1969; he was tried in Israel, found to be insane, and subsequently admitted to a mental institution. On 14 May 1974, Rohan was deported to Australia "on humanitarian grounds, for further psychiatric treatment near his family" and transferred to the Callan Park Hospital for the Insane on the outskirts of Sydney. Some sources claimed that he had died on 6 October 1995, but a 2009 investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) found that he was still alive. Rohan also spoke to an ABC journalist a few years after the findings, but died a few years later.