Sydney bishop stabbed during service backs X’s legal case to share video of attack

A live stream of the knife attack on April 15 and subsequent social media posts quickly drew a crowd of 2,000 people to the Assyrian Orthodox church, sparking a riot in which 51 police officers were injured and 104 police vehicles were damaged.

“I do acknowledge the Australian government’s desire to have the videos removed because of their graphic nature,” Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel said in audio posted on YouTube on Wednesday.

“However, noting our God-given right to freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, I’m not opposed to the videos remaining on social media,” Emmanuel added.

Police announced on Thursday that five teenagers accused of following a violent extremist ideology have been charged with a range of offences in an investigation that began with Emmanuel’s stabbing.

The attack in the Christ the Good Shepherd Church has set in motion two unrelated legal processes. One is the criminal prosecution of the alleged perpetrator or perpetrators and the other is a civil court action centred on the harm that could be caused by the video spreading on social media.

Police said Thursday the five boys charged, aged from 14 to 17, were among seven arrested across southwest Sydney on Wednesday in a major operation by the joint counterterrorism team. The team includes federal and state police as well as the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the nation’s main domestic spy agency, and the New South Wales Crime Commission, which specialises in extremists and organised crime.

Police allege the seven are part of a network that included the 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing Emmanuel and a priest. Neither cleric sustained life-threatening injuries. That boy was charged on Friday with committing a terrorist act, a crime that