A high-profile lawyer has welcomed prosecutors dropping a sole criminal charge against him after denying claims he illegally shared the details of an alleged sexual assault victim.
Abdulrahim Saddik, also known as Abdul, has represented members of some of Sydney’s most notorious alleged crime figures but found himself targeted by police and arrested in May.
The 32-year-old solicitor ICON139 pleaded not guilty one month later to a single count of publishing details of a complainant in a prescribed sexual offence.
On Thursday, prosecutors dropped the charge against Mr Saddik during a hearing at Parramatta Local Court.
“This charge never reflected my limitless commitment to my career over the years,” Mr Saddik said afterwards.
“Working on the cases I take on is hard. It becomes harder when you’re facing challenges like this.
“I’m glad it was short lived and I’m forever grateful to my colleagues in the profession for their unconditional support, and in particular to my lawyers.”
The charge related to the alleged disclosure of information to an unrelated third party while the lawyer represented a 24-year-old man charged with sexual assault.
Those details allegedly included the name of the complainant in the case.
Under NSW law, it is illegal to publish any information that identifies complainants for prescribed sexual offences except with permission from a court or the alleged victim.
Mr Saddik’s past clients have included the alleged leader of the Alameddine crime gang, Rafat Alameddine, and former high-ranking bikie Tarek Zahed.
In May, police issued a public appeal for information about Alameddine’s whereabouts by virtue of an outstanding warrant for two counts of murder.
It relates to the daylight shooting of father and son Toufik and Salim Hamze who were gunned at Guildford, in Sydney’s west, in 2021 amid a spate of public gangland murders.
Zahed is serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to one charge of hindering a police investigation, having avoided facing trial on murder and aggravated kidnapping charges.
He was dramatically arrested in Sydney’s eastern suburbs in August 2022, with police using beanbag rounds to shoot out the windows of the BMW he was travelling in.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028