Teen fears for safety after photo bungle
A 19-year-old man wrongly identified by Fairfax Media as terrorism suspect Numan Haider says he fears leaving his house.
Abu Bakar Alam, 19, a Year 12 student who works part-time at a fast food restaurant, said the ordeal has turned his life upside down.
"I'm really scared," he told SBS Radio.
"I can't go anywhere. I haven't been out all day. I can't do work, I've cancelled my shift. I don't know when I'll be back at school and work.
"I've had such a good name as a student, as a worker. It's a terrible thing to happen."
Mr Alam said his grandfather moved to Australia from Afghanistan but returned to help rebuild the war-torn nation. He died in a suicide bombing in 2006.
"We came here to have a better life, better future and not be known as terrorists," he said.
Mr Alam said he was shocked, then angered, that Fairfax Media had incorrectly identified him as the man shot dead following an altercation with anti-terror police outside Endeavour Hills police station on Tuesday.
"I told my dad and my whole family was really angry, upset for accusing my family, for the bad image which we've never had."
Fairfax Media has apologised to Mr Alam unreservedly for identifying him as a terrorist and clarified that he has no connection to terrorist organisations.
"The young man has no connection whatsoever with any extremist or terrorist group and we deeply regret any such inference arising from the publication of the photograph. The picture has been withdrawn from circulation."
