The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Brother shocked by arena atrocity
Hashem Abedi says he would have told his mother if he knew about Manchester attack
The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi told police he had no involvement in the “instigation, preparation or commission” of the 2017 attack, saying he would have “reported it to (his) mother” had he suspected his sibling’s murderous intent, a court heard.
Hashem Abedi said he was “shocked” when he discovered his older brother detonated his suicide bomb on May 22 2017, killing 22 and injuring hundreds of others as thousands of men, women and children left the Ariana Grande gig.
Hashem, 22, was arrested in Libya – where he was allegedly tortured – the day after the atrocity before being sent back to the UK to face police questions amid prosecution claims he was complicit in sourcing and stockpiling components for the bomb.
He denies 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the injured survivors, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
Hashem condemned his brother’s action in a statement to police made last summer and read before the jury at the Old Bailey yesterday, saying he did not think his brother “had it in him”.
The statement, read by prosecutor Duncan Penny QC, said: “I deny any involvement in the terrorist attack at the Manchester Arena on May 22 2017. I was not involved in the instigation, preparation or commission of it.
“Had I had any idea of it I would have reported it to my mother initially and then to other family members to prevent it from happening.
“I was shocked my brother had done this and felt bad for everybody. I could never have envisaged that my brother had it in him to do this to innocent people.”
Hashem declined to answer detectives’ questions but instead issued the prepared statement through his solicitor setting out his denial, the court heard.
The former electrical installation student said he was a practising Muslim, did not hold extremist views, and did not support so-called terror group Islamic State.
He accepted that he had asked various individuals to buy sulphuric acid, a key ingredient for explosives, on behalf of his brother.
He stated: “I asked him why he was getting it from different people and he told me it was because companies have a maximum limit they can sell.”
Hashem, who had been in Libya in the weeks leading up the blast, said he had been “subjected to torture” during more than two years of being held by militia men.
There was hushed silence in court yesterday as the prosecutor took jurors through Salman Abedi’s final movements, including the seconds before he detonated the bomb.
The trial was adjourned until Monday morning.