Two Pakistanis charged with gang-rape of girl in Australia’s Sydney

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted an extensive keyword search to corroborate the claim from Australia-based news coverage of the incident.

Posts from multiple Indian accounts on social media platform X on July 23, 2025, shared a video, claiming that two Pakistani men were charged with the gang-rape of a girl in Sydney, Australia. However, the incident occurred in June and the suspects were not Pakistanis.

HOW IT STARTED

On July 23, an Indian propaganda account shared a video on X featuring security forces escorting two men with handcuffs to their vehicle. A logo of the New South Wales Police Forces was visible on the top right corner.

The caption of the post read: “Two Pakistani-origin refugees Adam Abdul Hamid and Mohammad Ashraf charged over six hours gang-rape of girl in Sydney, Australia.”

The post did not provide any link or source for the claim or provide any further contextual details such as the date of the incident.

The post was viewed 30,500 times.

A repost by another Indian propaganda account gained 76,600 views.

Posts with the same claim were also shared by other Indian users on X as can be seen here, here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its virality, keen public interest in developments related to overseas Pakistanis and to address the potential harmful impact of perpetuating such stereotypes.

A reverse image search led to a News.com.au bulletin on YouTube, dated June 18, 2025.

The report, which included the viral clip along with footage of other arrests, stated that four teenagers had been charged with the sexual assault of a 17-year-old girl in Sydney. The incident occurred in December 2024.

Attempting to corroborate the alleged development through major Australian media outlets such as Sydney Morning Herald, Daily Telegraph, The Age, Herald Sun, Canberra Times, The Australian and more yielded no reports or news stories on the accused being Pakistani.

A review of news coverage from conservative Australian news outlets such as Sky News Australia revealed the accused were males aged 14, 16, 18 and 19, with Adam Abdul-Hamid, the 19-year-old, the only accused named by the media.

None of the reports mentioned any alleged Pakistani heritage.

A keyword search of the accused’s name yielded a June 20 news article from British tabloid The Daily Mail, which identified him as being of Lebanese heritage.

Furthermore, a review of social media discourse from the original incident and the framing of charges in June also showed no links being made of the accused with Pakistanis, even by conservative and far-right users.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The claim that two Pakistani-origin refugees were charged with the gang-rape of a girl in Sydney is false.

There is no evidence confirming that the accused were Pakistani and one of them was identified as Lebanese. The framing of charges also took place in June and not recently.

Evidence and References

June 18, 2025, YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/Bl22haZIyxM?si=eSrkEb8U1JQjL4RE

June 18, 2025, Sky News Australia news report:
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/crime/do-you-want-to-have-a-turn-accused-rapists-chilling-question-as-four-teens-charged-after-gang-rape-of-sydney-girl/news-story/ce2d6e099676b20be3b8be0ddca3c5d2

June 20, 2025, The Daily Mail news report:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14830461/Adam-Abdul-Hamid-gang-rape.html