Abedi brothers with weapons
ARENA BOMB INQUIRY SHOW DISTURBING PICTURES
WITH a cigarette hanging from his mouth, this is Manchester Arena mass murderer Salman Abedi posing with a ‘50 calibre machine gun’ in Libya – one of a series of disturbing photographs of the Abedi brothers and their father posing with military-grade weapons shown at the public inquiry into the atrocity.
The photo, believed to have been taken in 2011 or 2012, was one of a number downloaded by police from an electronic device seized from Ismail Abedi – the older brother of Salman and Hashem Abedi – after he was ‘port stopped’ at Heathrow Airport returning from Indonesia in 2015, the inquiry heard.
Hashem Abedi – who is now serving a minimum of 55 years behind bars –was shown posing with a ‘ground to air missile system for shooting down aircraft.’
And Ismail Abedi, who has refused to give evidence to the public inquiry on the radicalisation of his brothers, was shown in another image pointing to an ‘ISIS’ book in a bookshop.
Detective Chief Superintendent Simon Barraclough, who led the Operation Manteline police investigation into the 2017 terror bombing, said the image held ‘more significance.’ “He is pointing specifically with his index finger, which is recognised as support for IS,” he told the inquiry yesterday. “He is sticking his finger in the air. It’s the ‘one God’ symbol.”
As previously reported, Ismail Abedi was due to give evidence but after flying abroad, he said he would not be attending the inquiry and was ‘unwilling’ to help.
Mr Abedi – who his solicitor said has been ‘assigned a new identity to protect him’ – was stopped by police at Manchester Airport as he tried to leave the country on August 28 and questioned under the Terrorism Act, but boarded a flight and left the country the very next day. He has not been charged with any criminal offence.
Ismail Abedi is shown in another image with an assault rifle in a car wearing military fatigues, and posing with a ‘rocket propelled grenade’ in a separate photograph. He was also captured with his father – Ramadan Abedi – posing under a sign with ‘classic AK47s,’ Mr Barraclough added. Ramadan Abedi has also refused to assist the public inquiry into the atrocity.
The inquiry has heard he took his sons to Libya – and police believe Ramadan played a ‘significant’ role in the subsequent radicalisation of Salman and Hashem Abedi. Images of Salman and Hashem Abedi holding weapons in military uniforms were also found on a hard drive in a search of their home in Fallowfield after the bombing, the inquiry was told.
Pete Weatherby QC, for some of the victims’ families, said the images put ‘flesh on the bones’ in terms of the ‘level of military hardware these boys were involved with.’
He said he believed it was important to ‘get a flavour of the Abedi boys with weapons’ at the inquiry.
Salman Abedi detonated a device in a backpack at 10.31pm on May 22, 2017, as concert-goers were leaving an Ariana Grande gig at the Arena.
The attack claimed 22 lives and injured hundreds more people.