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A man who allegedly opened fire at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach has been charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, police said on Wednesday.
An alleged father and son opened fire at a party on Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach on Sunday, killing 15 in an attack that shook the nation and heightened fears of a rise in anti-Semitism and violent extremism.
Funerals for the Jewish victims of the attack began on Wednesday, amid anger that the gunmen – one of whom was briefly investigated for links to extremists – were allowed access to high-powered firearms.
Sajid Akram, 50, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram emerged from a coma on Tuesday afternoon after he was also shot dead by police.
New South Wales Police said on Wednesday that the man had been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of wounding with attempted murder, as well as an act of terrorism and other charges.
As memorials continue for the 15 people killed in the mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, stories of bravery are being shared about several victims who fought back against their attackers. Meanwhile, questions are being raised about the trip to the Philippines taken by the suspected attackers.
“Police will charge a man in court who committed conduct that caused death, serious injury and endangered life in order to promote a religious cause and cause fear in the community,” the statement said.
“Initial indications point to a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, an Australian-listed terrorist organization.”
A court filing on Wednesday named Naveed Akram, who remains in a Sydney hospital under heavy police guard, as the man charged.
Akram’s lawyer did not enter a plea and did not ask for his client’s release on bail during a video court appearance from his hospital bed, the court said in a statement.
He traveled to the Philippines, police say
He will appear via video link before a local court on Monday morning.
The father and son traveled to the southern Philippines, a region long plagued by Islamist militancy, weeks before the shooting, which Australian police said was inspired by Islamic State.
The leader of Australia’s New South Wales state said on Wednesday he would recall parliament next week to pass sweeping reforms to gun and protest laws, days after the country’s deadliest mass shooting in three decades.
Chris Minns, premier of the state of New South Wales where the attack took place, told a news conference that parliament would return on December 22 to hear “urgent” reforms, including limiting the number of firearms allowed per person and making it harder to access certain types of shotguns.
The funerals of the victims begin
The funeral for Rabbi Eli Schlanger, assistant rabbi at Chabad Bondi Synagogue and father of five, was held on Wednesday.
He was known for his work for the Sydney Jewish community through Chabad, a global organization that fosters Jewish identity and connection. Schlanger would travel to prisons and meet with Jews living in public housing communities in Sydney, Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin said on Monday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing criticism that his centre-left government did not do enough to prevent the spread of anti-Semitism in Australia during the two-year war between Israel and Gaza.
“We will work with the Jewish community, we want to root out and eradicate anti-Semitism from our society,” Albanese told reporters.
The government and intelligence services are also under pressure to explain why Sajid Akram was allowed to legally acquire the high-powered rifles and shotguns used in the attack. The government has already promised comprehensive reforms to gun laws.
Meanwhile, Naveed Akram was briefly investigated by Australia’s domestic intelligence agency in 2019 for alleged links to Islamic State, but at the time there was no evidence he posed a threat, Albanese said.
Albanese said Ahmed al-Ahmed, 43, the man who attacked one of the shooters to disarm his rifle and suffered gunshot wounds, was scheduled to undergo surgery on Wednesday.
Al-Ahmed’s uncle, Mohammed al-Ahmed from Syria, said his nephew left his hometown in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province almost 20 years ago to seek work in Australia.
“We found out through social media. I called his father and he told me it was Ahmed. Ahmed is a hero, we are proud of him. Syria in general is proud of him,” the uncle told Reuters.
The family of 22-year-old Officer Jack Hibbert, who was shot twice on Sunday and had been on the force for just four months, said in a statement Wednesday that he has lost vision in one eye and faces a “long and challenging recovery.”
Premier Minns of New South Wales said 23 people were still in several hospitals in Sydney.
Other victims of the shooting included a Holocaust survivor, a husband and wife who first approached the attackers before they opened fire, and a 10-year-old girl named Matilda, according to interviews, officials and media reports.
Matilda’s father said at the Bondi vigil on Tuesday night that he did not want his daughter’s legacy to be forgotten.
“We came here from Ukraine … and I thought Matilda was the most Australian name there could be. So just remember the name, remember her,” he was quoted as saying by local media.
In Bondi on Wednesday, swimmers gathered on the most popular beach in Sydney and observed a minute of silence. The organizers canceled the New Year’s party that was supposed to take place on the beach.
“This week has obviously been very important, and this morning I definitely feel the community coming together and everyone sitting together,” Archie Kalaf, a 24-year-old Bondi man, told Reuters. – Everyone grieves, everyone understands and processes it in their own way.
