Pakistani Man Honored in Italy After Saving Two Children from Attacker

A Pakistani man from Gujrat has been honored by Italian authorities after rescuing two children from a violent attacker in Brescia, despite having undergone heart surgery just three months earlier.

According to details, Naveed Aslam, a 39-year-old delivery courier, was sitting in a park with his family on June 19 when a man suffering from a drug-induced psychiatric episode attacked children nearby.

The attacker, a 29-year-old Nigerian man who was reportedly under house arrest, first grabbed a four-year-old Egyptian boy by the neck and lifted him into the air along with his bicycle. Naveed immediately stepped in and pushed the attacker back.

Moments later, the man targeted a seven-year-old boy, knocking him to the ground and twisting his arm. Naveed again rushed forward to stop him, even as his wife tried to hold him back because he had recently been fitted with a cardiac pacemaker after a serious medical episode.

Naveed later said he told his wife that life and death are in Allah’s hands, and that if he did not act for someone else’s children, no one might come forward if the same happened to his own.

He said the attacker threatened to slit his throat before the struggle began. Despite that, Naveed managed to wrestle him to the ground and held him there for around 20 minutes until police arrived. During the struggle, he absorbed punches and elbow strikes to his chest as the suspect repeatedly tried to break free.

Hospital scans later found two large bruises on the left side of his chest, though doctors confirmed there was no damage to his pacemaker.

After undergoing medical tests for several hours, Naveed still went to the police station to help complete the criminal case and then reported to work shortly afterwards.

On Friday, Brescia Mayor Laura Castelletti presented him with a civic plaque in recognition of his courage. During the ceremony, she also informed him that his pending Italian citizenship process would be expedited.

Naveed, who spent the first 26 years of his life in Riyadh, later moved to Pakistan and has been living in Italy for the past seven years. He said making his mother proud meant more to him than public recognition, adding that the courage to act came from the values she gave him.