Arena bomber’s mosque ‘failed to act on extremism’

THE mosque where the Manchester Arena bomber worshipped was last night accused of ‘turning a blind eye’ to extremism by families of those killed in the atrocity.

Relatives of the 22 men, women and children murdered in the 2017 attack said leaders at Didsbury Mosque had been ‘complacent’ and did not do all they could to prevent ‘radicalisation’ of the community.

While the families acknowledged there was no evidence the mosque played a ‘direct role’ in radicalising suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, in a statement they said it had failed to ‘challenge extremist ideology’.

The inquiry into the terror attack has heard that an imam received death threats after delivering a sermon condemning terrorism and a petition, signed by Abedi’s brothers, was set up to get rid of him. Their father, Ramadan, also called for imam Mohammed Saeed El-Saeiti to be ‘isolated’ in comments online.

He claims he was sacked by the mosque last year after complaining that their statement to the inquiry included false information about their knowledge of extremism.

The families said: ‘We are shocked by the complacency displayed by the chair of trustees at Didsbury Mosque... there can be no complacency and no turning a blind eye.’

Fawzi Haffar, chairman of the mosque, insisted it was a ‘middle of the road’ institution on Tuesday. The inquiry continues.

CRAIG BROWN IS AWAY