A 16-year-old boy has been charged with a "terrorist act" for stabbing a bishop during a live-streamed sermon. Mar Mari Emmanuel, a bishop of an Assyrian church, was stabbed six times in the head and chest on Monday evening.
The suspect, who was overpowered by the faithful and injured in the scuffle, was hospitalized after his arrest. He is due to be heard this Friday in a children's court from his bed, said Karen Webb, commissioner of the New South Wales state police. The Sydney Joint Counter-Terrorism Team, made up of several police and intelligence agencies, charged him with "committing an act of terrorism," based on the contents of electronic devices found at his home and an interview at the hospital, she added. He was denied bail and could face life in prison if convicted. The bishop gained notoriety by criticizing vaccines against Covid-19 and confinements during the pandemic and by defending the primacy of his faith over other religions, including Islam.