Terrorist to be released without parole hearing

A CONVICTED t errorist with close links to the Manchester Arena bomber could still be a hardened extremist, experts have warned, after it emerged he was set to be released from prison without a parole hearing.

Abdalraouf Abdallah, 27, was jailed in July 2016 for helping people to travel to Syria to join Islamic State. He was sentenced to nine years and six months and told he would have to serve five and a half years in prison and the rest of the term on licence.

With time on remand, he has completed the custodial element of his sentence and is expected to be released next week.

But t errorism experts warned that Abdallah could still be dangerous and should complete the full nine and a half years.

While in prison Abdallah received a visit from Salman Abedi, who killed 22 people when he blew himself up after an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena in May 2017.

Dr Rakib Ehsan, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said: “Irrespective of his supposedly strict licensi ng conditions, releasing Abdallah poses a clear threat to British public safety.

“Given he was released automatically, without a parole hearing, we simply have no idea if he has been deradicalised or remains a hardened fundamentalist. All this tells a story of a fundamentally flawed system for dealing with Islamist terrorists.”

The public inquiry into the Manchester atrocity heard Abdallah was a “witness with important evidence to give” but, it is understood, had refused to cooperate.

He was expected to be released under some of the strictest conditions applied to a terrorist out on licence, including freedom of movement restrictions, an internet use ban and limits to those with whom he can mix, subj ect to approval by t he authorities.

Abdallah was born in Libya but grew up in Manchester near the Abedi brothers. He was left wheelchair-bound after being shot in the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi.