How Arena bomber’s family scorned city that gave them refuge
AS the wheels of his passenger jet lifted away from the runway of Manchester Airport, Ismail Abedi must have felt a thrill of excitement as he climbed through the clouds and away from a world of trouble.
Just 24 hours earlier, he had been prevented from boarding another plane he was questioned by counter terror police but was allowed to walk free.
Not only had he given police the slip, as his plane sped high across the North Sea he knew he had also swerved a potential grilling and humiliation at the continuing public inquiry into 2017 bombing of Manchester Arena.
He had been called to give evidence about how the mind of his younger brother, Salman, had become so poisoned he was willing to kill himself and children leaving a pop concert.
But, like his parents before him, Ismail Abedi scorned the city that had welcomed him and gave his family refuge from the violence in their homeland, Libya. A family whose name will forever be associated with the murder of 22 innocents.
As an investigation is launched into how Ismail was allowed to fly out of the country on August 29, he can settle into a new life with a new identity – probably in Libya – with his wife and children, who the M.E.N. has been told were with him on his flight from Manchester.
His exit, which has infuriated the families of those who died, means he can’t be asked why his DNA was on a hammer found in the car which stored the Arena explosives, nor why he, like his suicide bomber brother, appeared to be ‘sympathetic to the ideals of ISIS.’
The M.E.N. has trawled thousands of records from the continuing public inquiry and the Old Bailey trial of Salman’s jailed co-conspirator brother Hashem to take a close look at the family that spawned such hate, the family that stuck two fingers up to Manchester.
Ismail was stopped by counter terrorism police on his way back from his honeymoon at Heathrow Airport on September 3, 2015. His devices were seized and examined, revealing an interest in Islamic State, the inquiry was told.
On his Facebook page police found numerous pictures of men in camouflage clothing with military weapons.
He appeared in numerous images holding an RPG launcher, an artillery piece and sitting on an anti aircraft gun and holding a machine gun with an Islamic State logo behind him in flames.
He posted an infamous and shocking Islamic State image of a Jordanian pilot just before he was burned alive in February 2015, with the caption ‘looking for seasoned firewood.’ The terror group also videoed the gruesome death that was to follow and posted it on the internet, although there was no evidence that Ismail possessed this video.
Police also found images of conflict and war including pictures of dead bodies, a decapitated corpse and more images of people being burned.
Another image showed Salman Abedi holding his left hand index finger aloft, considered a sign of allegiance to Islamic State. Another showed Hashem Abedi holding a Stinger-type anti-aircraft rocket.
More ‘mindset’ material was uncovered when police searched Ismail’s Manchester home following the Arena attack, including images of burned bodies on a disc drive. Another picture showed an ISIS flag with the caption ‘I pledge allegiance.’
Det Chief Supt Simon Barraclough previously told the inquiry in a written statement: “There are indications that Ismail Abedi may have been aware of the radicalisation or changing opinions of Salman Abedi.”
He said it appeared Ismail was ‘sympathetic to the ideals of ISIS.’
It appears Ismail, and his hate-filled younger brothers Salman and Hashem, were steeped in radical Islam from birth.
Ramadan Abedi and his wife Samia Tabal, the mother of the Abedi brothers, are believed to be in Libya, and have refused to cooperate with the authorities here. The pair remain official suspects and would be arrested if they were to set foot in the UK.
Said to be a member of the al-Qaeda aligned Libya Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), Ramadan once proudly posted a picture on his Facebook page of a young Hashem, then 15, somewhere in north Africa with an automatic weapon with the caption: “Hashem the lion... in training.” Salman and Hashem used Samia’s bank account to pay for bomb-making kit.
Ramadan and Samia have, in all likelihood, been joined in Libya now by Ismail who ‘has been able to flee and the laugh in the face of the inquiry’ according to the inquiry’s QC Paul Greaney. And laugh at the memory of the 22 who died.