Manchester Arena bomber’s brother is convicted of atrocity
THE homegrown jihadi brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has been found guilty of murdering 22 people and injuring hundreds more in the “cruel and cowardly” attack.
Hashem Abedi was not present at the conclusion of his seven-week trial yesterday as he continued to attempt to evade responsibility for the carnage of May 22, 2017.
Families of some of the victims in court two of the Old Bailey wept as a jury found him guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions after less than five hours of deliberations.
It came as the senior investigating officer said Hashem was “every bit as responsible” as his older brother — and may have been the senior figure in the plot, with intentions for further bloodshed around the world — even though he was in Libya when Salman blew up the bomb.
Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough said:
“If you look at these two brothers, they are not kids caught in the headlights of something they don’t understand.
“These two men are the real deal, these are proper jihadis — you do not walk into a space like the Manchester Arena and kill yourself with an enormous bomb like that, taking 22 innocent lives with you, if you are not a proper jihadist.
“He was with his brother throughout the entire process of making this explosive and building this bomb, I believe he provided encouragement right up to the end. This was all about the sick ideology of Islamic State and this desire for martyrdom.”
And he said he was certain Hashem took a final four-minute phone call from Salman on the evening the bomb went off.
Mr Barraclough, who was assigned to the case within an hour of the attack, said: “At that point he [Salman] is getting that last-minute inspiration [from Hashem] — that last-minute advice — and he’s telling him what he’s about to do. These two brothers are literally hand-inglove in this process.”
Lawyer Victoria Higgins, of Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of the bereaved families, said: “Families have waited a long time to see Hashem Abedi face justice for his crimes and I think the overwhelming emotion for most will be one of relief that he cannot hurt anyone else.
“It has been incredibly painful for them to hear, in detail, what happened to their loved ones and the calculated way in which the Abedi brothers plotted to end their lives.”
A public inquiry into the bombing is due to begin in June.