This photo shows a frame grab of Naveed Akram allegedly firing a shotgun and moving in a tactical manner in a countryside location, suspected to be in New South Wales.
- Family members of accused Bondi Beach attacker Naveed Akram fear for their safety.
- Akram is accused of Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
- His family alleged a spate of alleged vigilante attacks.
Family members of a man accused of killing 15 people at a Jewish festival on Sydney’s Bondi Beach in 2025 fear for their safety after a spate of alleged vigilante attacks, a court heard on Tuesday.
Naveed Akram, 24, is accused of opening fire on a Hanukkah celebration on 14 December in Australia’s worst mass shooting in decades.
Akram is seeking a gag order preventing the publication of the names or photos of his mother, brother and sister, as well as their home address and places of work and schooling, due to fears for their safety, his barrister Richard Wilson told a Sydney court.
Akram is charged with “the most serious and the most notorious terrorist attack this country has ever seen”, Wilson said, putting his family at risk from attacks from “misguided and angry” members of the public.
The family has received death threats on several occasions in person and via phone and text message, while their home in the western Sydney suburb of Bonnyrigg had been targeted by “vigilantes”, Wilson said.
“They have had the intended effect of causing fear,” he said, telling the court the family thought they were at risk of physical harm.
READ | Alleged Bondi Beach killer appears in court, says only one word: ‘Yeah’
Appearing via video link from the maximum-security jail where he is being held, Akram spoke only to confirm he could hear proceedings.
Dressed in a prison uniform with his hair closely cropped, he remained impassive throughout the hearing, keeping his head down for much of the time.
This photo shows Sajid and Naveed Akram, armed with three firearms, allegedly shooting toward the crowd gathered within Archer Park at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
He is yet to enter a plea.
“He’s doing good, he’s doing okay,” Akram’s solicitor Leonie Gittani told reporters outside the court.
The proposed gag order is being challenged by several Australian media groups on public-interest grounds.
Appearing on their behalf, barrister Matthew Lewis said on Tuesday that protecting the principle of open justice in the case would have a “therapeutic effect” for the country.
The identities of Akram’s family and their home address were already widely known, while his mother gave an interview to a local newspaper shortly after the attack, he added.
A growing display of flowers and tributes is seen at a memorial outside the Bondi Pavilion, honouring the victims of a mass shooting attack that killed 15 people at Bondi Beach in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Claudio Galdames Alarcon/Anadolu via Getty Images
Magistrate Hugh Donnelly reserved judgment until 2 April.
Akram faces a total of 59 charges over the attack, including 15 counts of murder, 40 counts of wounding with intent to murder and a terror offence.
His father, Sajid Akram, who police also accuse of carrying out the shooting, was shot dead by police at the scene.
Police say the men were inspired by the Islamic State militant group to carry out the attack using several high-powered weapons the elder Akram had legally acquired.
“The outpouring of public grief, public outrage, and public anger at what he and his father allegedly did are unprecedented, extraordinary and absolutely understandable,” Wilson said.
This screengrab from video posted on X by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, shows Albanese (L) meeting Ahmed al Ahmed, the man who disarmed one of the attackers during the Bondi Beach attack, in hospital in Sydney.
The attack stunned a nation known for its strict gun laws, prompting renewed calls for tighter controls and more decisive action to combat antisemitism.
Australia has launched a government-backed inquiry into antisemitism and social cohesion, with findings due by December.
The government has already strengthened gun laws and introduced new hate speech legislation.
