Following a knife attack on a bishop in Sydney last week, Australian police have charged five teenagers with terrorism-related offenses. They were charged in a major operation by the Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, and are said to be associates of a 16-year-old boy previously charged in the knifing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel on April 15 at his church.
The five boys, aged between 14 and 17, were charged with a range of offenses, including possessing violent extremist material, conspiring to prepare for a terrorist act, and carrying a knife in public. Two of the boys, aged 16 and 17, have been charged with conspiring to engage in or planning a terrorist act. The older boy was also charged with carrying a knife in public. Two others were charged with possessing or controlling violent extremist material accessed online.
Bishop Emmanuel is a social media star with followers around the world and a fiery critic of homosexuality, COVID vaccinations, Islam, and abortion. The Assyrian Church, of which he is a bishop, has its world headquarters in Iraq and is a Christian sect with its historical origins in parts of modern Turkey, Syria, and Iran.
