{"id":91603,"date":"2026-02-16T17:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/?p=91603"},"modified":"2026-02-16T17:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T22:45:01","slug":"bondi-beach-terrorist-appears-in-court-for-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/bondi-beach-terrorist-appears-in-court-for-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Bondi Beach terrorist appears in court for first time"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>By JNS STAFF<\/div>\n<div>&nbsp;<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-meta-str\"><span class=\"light-weight-content\">(JNS.org<\/span><span class=\"light-weight-content\">) \u2013 <\/span>Bondi Beach killer Naveed Akram appeared in a Sydney court for the first time via video link on Monday. Akram, 24, faces 59 charges, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist attack at an outdoor Chanukah party in December.<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_91604\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-scaled.jpeg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91604\" class=\"wp-image-91604 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/225;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-91604\" class=\"wp-image-91604 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-300x225.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/P1020332-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-91604\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bridge from which the two terrorists shot unarmed civilians at the &#8220;Chanukah By the Sea&#8221; event. (Photo by Alan Smason)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case was mentioned before a court in December, but it is the first time Akram has been seen on screen since his arrest,&nbsp;<em>ABC Australia<\/em>&nbsp;reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Akram\u2019s father, Sajid Akram, was killed by police during the shooting at Bondi on Dec. 14. The two attacked the \u201cChanukah by the Sea\u201d event in Archer Park, which hundreds of people attended and was organized by the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Fifteen people&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jns.org\/police-responding-to-reported-shooting-at-sydneys-bondi-beach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">were&nbsp;<\/a>shot dead, and more than three-dozen others were injured.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWearing a green prison jumper with his hands on his lap, Akram sat in front of a table and spoke only when Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund asked if he heard a discussion about an extension of suppression orders,\u201d&nbsp;<em>ABC Australia<\/em> reported. \u201c\u2018Yeah,\u2019 he replied.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Suppression orders protect the identities of survivors of the shooting. Survivors can self-identify if they wish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Akram\u2019s lawyer, Ben Archbold, said it was premature to say what plea his client would enter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Akram is being held in Goulburn Supermax prison. Archbold said he had visited him there. Asked how his client seemed during the visit, he said: \u201cHe\u2019s just a client, and he\u2019s a client that needs to be represented, and we don\u2019t let our personal view get in the way of our professional obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked whether Akram had given a police interview, Archbold said, \u201cAll we\u2019ve done is start the process. We\u2019re waiting for the brief to be served. There\u2019s nothing more I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In December, court documents were released with police allegations that Naveed and Sajid Akram conducted firearms training in regional New South Wales in October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a video they filmed, the two are seen \u201cfiring shotguns and moving in a tactical manner,\u201d police said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a separate video, found on Naveed Akram\u2019s phone, the men sit in front of an Islamic State flag and firearms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Naveed Akram recites a passage from the Koran in Arabic before both men \u201cmake a number of statements regarding their motivation for the Bondi attack and condemning the acts of \u2018Zionists,&#8217;\u201d police said, according to court documents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The documents also say that when the two reached Archer Park, they threw several improvised explosive devices into the crowd, which failed to detonate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case is scheduled to reconvene in court in April.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Australian Prime Minister Antony Albanese told a press conference following the massacre that it was \u201can act of evil antisemitism, terrorism, that has struck the heart of our nation. An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Bondi%20Beach%20terrorist%20appears%20in%20court%20for%20first%20time\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14935,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91605,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91603\/revisions\/91605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}