Police on Wednesday charged Naveed Akram, one of the two suspected perpetrators of the attack on a Sydney beach, with terrorism and 15 murders, three days after the worst massacre in Australia in decades, the victims of which began to be buried.
“Police will argue in court that this man committed acts which caused death, serious injury and put lives in danger in order to promote a religious cause and sow fear within a community,” NSW Police said.
“Early indications suggest that this is a terrorist attack inspired by ISIS, a listed terrorist organization in Australia,” she said in a statement, using the acronym for the Islamic State jihadist group.
Naveed Akram was seriously injured by police during Sunday’s shooting at Bondi Beach and, according to local media, emerged from a coma on Tuesday evening. His father, with whom he led the assault, Sajid Akram, was shot dead during the attack.
The first funeral after the attack took place under tight security on Wednesday morning in Bondi, where the father and son killed 15 people gathered on Sunday for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
A crowd of faithful in tears welcomed the remains of Rabbi Eli Schlanger, the first of the victims of the attack to be buried, at the Chabad synagogue in this Sydney suburb, among a large police force, AFP journalists noted.
“This loss is immense for all Jewish people, but for our community here, for Chabad of Bondi, it is unspeakable,” said Rabbi Levi Wolff.
Nicknamed “The Rabbi of Bondi”, Eli Schlanger, 41, was a chaplain and had worked in prisons and hospitals. He was the father of five children. “You are my son, my friend and my confidant,” his father-in-law, Yehoram Ulman, said during the ceremony.
Among the victims also include a 10-year-old girl, two Holocaust survivors and a French national, Dan Elkayam.
Another rabbi murdered on Sunday, Yaakov Levitan, 39, father of four children, is also due to be buried on Wednesday at the Chabad synagogue in Bondi.
This movement represents a branch of Hasidic Judaism and organized Sunday’s festivities on Bondi Beach.
“Don’t be afraid”
“Today will be a particularly difficult day,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on local radio, emphasizing his “hearts with the community”.
Another rabbi present at the funeral, Yossi Friedman, stressed that the community was “extremely affected”.
“We should be able to be ourselves and not be afraid,” said Danny Gingef, 66, who came to the ceremony.
Mr Albanese stressed on Tuesday that the attackers were “motivated by the ideology” of the jihadist group Islamic State, two flags of which were found in their car.
Armed with several legally owned rifles, the two men peppered the range with bullets for ten minutes.
Naveed Akram, 24, was the subject of Australian intelligence checks in 2019, without appearing to pose an immediate threat at the time.
According to Philippine authorities, the two men traveled to the country on 1is as of November 28, with an Indian and Australian passport respectively. Their destination was the Davao region on the island of Mindanao, the scene of an Islamist insurgency.
Manila, however, denied on Wednesday that it hosts jihadist training camps. President Ferdinand Marcos “formally rejects […] the misleading description of the Philippines as being the training center of the Islamic State,” said his spokesperson, stressing that “no proof has been provided.”
“Hero”
Mr Albanese paid tribute on Wednesday to the heroism of a couple in their 60s killed in the attack, after footage filmed by a vehicle-mounted camera showed them fighting with one of the shooters.
“I pay tribute to Boris and Sofia Gurman. Boris attacked one of these terrorists as he got out of the car. And this caused the death of M. and Mme Gurman,” he said, calling the couple “Australian heroes.”
Mr. Albanese went to the bedside of Ahmed Al Ahmed on Tuesday, also described as a hero for having succeeded in snatching the rifle from the hands of Sajid Akram. His gesture, which was filmed, went viral on social networks.
Australian leaders have agreed to toughen laws that allowed Sajid Akram to own six firearms.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Australian decision to recognize Palestine against the backdrop of the war in Gaza had added “fuel to the fire of anti-Semitism”.
