We’re one step closer to justice
Families’ hope as Manchester Arena bomber’s brother faces 22 murder charges
RELATIVES of the Manchester terror attack victims said they were ‘one step closer to justice’ last night after the bomber’s brother was brought to the UK.
In a mission shrouded in secrecy, Hashem Abedi, 22, was handed over to British police in Tripoli and flown back to Britain in a private jet.
Last night he was charged with the murder of 22 people, the attempted murder of ‘persons other than the dead’ who were injured, and conspiracy to cause an explosion.
Abedi is suspected of helping to build the backpack nail bomb his brother Salman, 22, detonated at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017. The suicide attack killed 22 and injured hundreds more.
Abedi was accompanied by police and diplomats as he was flown in a Bombardier private jet from Mitiga Airport, in Tripoli, to Biggin Hill in Kent.
Shortly after touching down he was arrested and then taken to a high security police station in south London for questioning. He will appear before Westminster magistrates today.
Last night the move was welcomed by the younger brother of Philip Tron, 32, who died in the attack along with his partner’s 19-year- old daughter, Courtney Boyle. Michael Tron, 29, said: ‘The whole family are very pleased they’ve brought him back. We’re one step closer to justice.’
Donald Manford, the geat uncle of Eilidh MacLeod, 14, who died in the bombing, said: ‘While these developments will always bring back the pain of what has happened, it is a welcome step in leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of justice.’
The Abedi brothers, who were born in Britain to Libyan migrants, travelled to the country in the weeks before the atrocity. Salman returned alone, blowing himself up in the Manchester Arena foyer.
But Hashem, a university engineering student, is alleged to have played a key role, including helping to buy materials for the bomb. He was arrested soon after the attack and was being held by Rada, the most powerful of Tripoli’s militias.
He was made the subject of an extradition request by the British authorities in October 2017, but the process was complicated and delayed by the instability of the Libyan regime.
Last November Libya’s prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj said his country was ‘fully co- operating’ and Hashem Abedi could be extradited within weeks.
However, the move was delayed by fighting in the North African country. Mr alSarraj accused Britain of abandoning Libya after embassy staff were evacuated.
Families of victims had expressed concern that the extradition process was delaying the start of their loved ones’ inquests. These
‘Dragging their heels’
had been due to start in April next year but are now likely to be further delayed by any criminal trial.
Government sources last night accused Foreign Office officials of ‘ dragging their heels for months’ – over fears that the pick- up mission could go wrong, and Britons could get hurt.
A source said: ‘ Plans were accelerated when [Armed Forces minister] Mark Lancaster and [security minister] Ben Wallace intervened and said it had to be done.’
Mr Wallace said Hashem Abedi’s extradition had ‘been a huge effort by the police, Foreign Office and Home Office to ensure the law can take its course.’
Prime Minister Theresa May praised the families who had ‘commanded themselves with such dignity through what has been a deeply distressing and difficult time’.