A Pakistan-origin man living in Sydney has said he had received death threats and was “terrified” to leave his home after his photo was widely shared online as the gunman responsible for the Bondi Beach shooting, it emerged on Monday.
Two gunmen on Sunday had opened fire at a Hanukkah gathering in Sydney’s Bondi Beach, killing 15 in Australia’s worst incident of gun violence since 1996. Police have not yet disclosed the names of the suspects, who happen to be father and son, or their motives. However, various news outlets identified them as Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram, respectively.
The father first came to Australia in 1998 on a student visa, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told reporters on Monday. He was killed at the scene. His son — an Australian-born citizen according to the home affairs minister — is critically injured and being treated in a Sydney hospital bed under police guard.
Photos of a beaming man in a green Pakistan cricket jersey had subsequently pinged across social media. Some of the posts were shared thousands of times, drawing vitriolic comments.
But the photo was taken from the Facebook profile of a different Naveed Akram, who pleaded on Monday for people to stop the misinformation in a video published by the Pakistan Consulate of Sydney.
The video was also picked up by Australia’s SBS News, with Akram, who runs his own business and arrived in Australia in 2018, saying, “As per media reports, one of the shooters, his name is Naveed Akram. My name is also Naveed Akram. Unfortunately, our names are the same.”
“I just want you to know that that person is a different person,” he added.
“That is not me, and I have nothing to do with that incident or that person,” Akram said as he condemned the shooting. He further said that this “propaganda” was being spread through “Indian accounts”.
He appealed to people to report instances of his photos being linked to the shooting, adding that he was “stressed and scared”.
“I really need your help because this is a life-threatening event and there can be many issues that can arise from this,” he was quoted as saying.
“I can’t even go outside safely,” he added.
The 30-year-old, who lives in a northwestern suburb of Sydney, told AFP he first heard around 9:30pm on Sunday that he had been falsely identified as the shooter.
“I could not even sleep last night,” Akram told AFP by phone, adding he deleted all the “terrible” messages he got.
“I’m terrified. I could not go outside, like it’s a life-threatening issue, so I don’t want to risk anything … my family is worried as well, so it’s quite a hard time for me.”
He asked the Pakistan Consulate to put out the video because relatives in Punjab were getting phone calls as well.
“It was destroying my image, my family’s image,” he said.
“People started to call them. They were worried, and they have told the police over there.”
The Pakistan native moved to Australia in 2018 to attend Central Queensland University and later did a masters at Sydney’s Holmes Institute.
Today he runs a car rental business, and he said Australia is “the perfect country”.
“I love this country. I have never had any safety issues here, like everyone is so nice, the people are so nice here,” Akram said.
“It’s only this incident that has caused me this trauma.”
