A man of Pakistani origin has spoken out after his photograph was widely shared online, falsely depicting him as one of the gunmen in the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia.
Naveed Akram, 30, became the victim of mistaken identity for having the same name as one of the attackers identified in the mass shooting that killed 25 people in Sydney.
Father-son duo Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed Akram, 24, have been identified as the gunmen. Sajid was shot dead by police during the attack while Naveed was critically injured and taken to hospital under police guard.
In the wake of the attack, photos of the unrelated Naveed Akram, who runs a business in Sydney, began circulating on social media, with many declaring him a culprit without any verification.
Pictures of him smiling in a green Pakistan cricket jersey and holding a Pakistani flag in a stadium were shared on X, Facebook, Instagram, and even by some news websites.
His educational background was shared as that of the shooter and these posts were in turn shared by accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers, drawing many angry comments.
In a video message, Mr Akram set the record straight, saying he had nothing to do with the shooting.
“This issue is very serious. I am very stressed and very scared about this. I cannot even go outside safely,” Mr Akram said, urging people to stop circulating such falsehoods. “It can turn very dangerous against me.”
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Mr Akram said he was doubly traumatised, first by the attack and then by being falsely depicted as the shooter.
Mr Akram told the Guardian it was “extremely disturbing”. “As soon as I saw that my photo was being shared as the shooter, I came home instantly as I knew it was very dangerous,” he said.
“I was so traumatised and I knew I needed to try and get the message out that this wasn’t me.”
He said the fake posts “really shocked and disturbed” him and he reported the matter to police but they told him to disable all his social media accounts.
Mr Akram then decided to make a video debunking the falsehoods and urging people to stop sharing his pictures.
“Lots of these fake posts are still up on social media,” he added. “I’m still scared to go outside even to do the shopping. My life could still be at risk because of this. My only priority right now is clear my name and protect me and my wife.”
Mr Akram was one of several targets of false and harmful claims that circulated widely on social media in the aftermath of the shooting. One post on X, viewed over eight million times, falsely alleged that the attacker was an Israeli soldier, while another wrongly described him as a Lebanese man of Palestinian origin.
The man who bravely confronted one of the attackers and wrested away his weapon was identified as Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year-old father of two. He was hailed a hero by the Australian prime minister but users on X misidentified him as a 47-year-old IT professional with a British name.
Meanwhile, Australian authorities said the attackers spent nearly all of November in the Philippines.
The trip was confirmed by Philippine authorities after ABC cited security sources as saying the attackers could have travelled there for “military-style training”.
Philippine immigration officials said both men travelled to Manila and onward to Davao in the south of the country on 1 November and left on 28 November, just weeks before the Bondi shooting.
The father travelled on an Indian passport and the son on an Australian one, officials said, adding it was not conclusively known whether they were linked to any terrorist group or whether they had received any training in the country.
Mr Albanese said the attack at a Hanukkah event appeared to have been driven by extremist beliefs.
“It would appear that this was motivated by Islamic State ideology,” the prime minister told ABC Sydney.
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