A young nail technician charged with displaying a terrorist organisation’s flag during a pro-Palestine protest has lashed out – but is yet to provide a public explanation for what she was allegedly doing with the Hezbollah insignia.
Sarah Mouhanna, 19, found herself at the centre of controversy last week when she was arrested by police and charged with displaying the symbol of a prohibited terrorist organisation at a rally in Sydney, in the wake of Israel’s ground invasion.
Ms Mouhanna, who is understood to be the first person charged under Australia’s new laws about prohibited symbols, handed herself in to NSW Police after detectives launched a public appeal for her to be identified.
She was released on bail pending a court date later this month and has returned to her three-day-a-week job at a south Sydney salon.
Daily Mail Australia approached Ms Mouhanna after she performed a manicure on a client on Thursday – only to cop a fiery tirade from her and her boss, Tahilia Adonokakis.
‘This is my work! This is where I work,’ Ms Mouhanna snapped.
Ms Adonakis yelled in support: ‘Get out of my salon – if you don’t leave I will call the police.’
Ms Mouhanna’s sighting comes days after the young teen was seen leaving her family’s lavish seven-bedroom home in Arncliffe, carrying a $2,970 Louis Vuitton handbag and wearing $1,190 Christian Dior slides.
Sarah Mouhanna, 19, works as a nail technician three days a week – and lashed out when Daily Mail Australia approached her seeking an explanation for the charge laid against her this week
Ms Mouhanna vaped while giving a female client a manicure on Thursday morning
The teen then got behind the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class station wagon, worth $165,000, and drove a short distance to a friend’s home in nearby Rockdale.
Ms Mouhanna was one of 30,000 people who attended a massive protest in Sydney on September 29 in support Palestine and Lebanon, as the situation in the Middle East spirals out of control a year on from Hamas’ October 7 attack which left 1,200 Israelis dead.
At demonstrations in both Sydney and Melbourne, people were seen waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah, which has been listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia since 2001, as well as photos of its slain leader Hassan Nasrallah.
‘This is my work! This is where I work,’ Ms Mouhanna snapped, when approached by the Mail this week
Salon owner Tahlia Andonakis (pictured with Ms Mouhanna) demanded the Daily Mail Australia reporter to leave the salon
The 19-year-old is no stranger to the finer things in life, on Tuesday stepping out with designer accessories and driving a $165,000 Mercedes
The protests continued over the weekend and on Monday – the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed during the conflict over the past year.
Tensions have ratcheted up even further after Israel killed Nasrallah in an airstrike, launched a land invasion, and decapitated the group’s leadership structure with booby-trapped pagers.
Pictures of Sarag Mouhanna were released (above) by NSW Police as part of their investigation into the public order incident in Sydney last month
Before Ms Mouhanna’s arrest, Liberal Senator James Patterson said the sight of Hezbollah flags at the September 29 rallies in Melbourne and Sydney was ‘disturbing’ given the group is designated by Australia as a terrorist organisation.
‘This is a clear contravention of 80.2HA of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. It’s time for police to enforce the law,’ he tweeted.
Displays of flags representing a listed terrorist organisation is a prohibited offence if it is regarded as inciting hatred and violence toward other groups, and was widely condemned by politicians, police and Jewish organisations.
AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw described the display of Hezbollah flags as ‘un-Australian’ and an offence under Federal law.
‘If they are flying those flags, in particular the Hezbollah and Hamas flags, action will be taken,’ Commissioner Kershaw said.
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