Brother of Arena bomber led attack on prison officer
Islamist extremist who assisted his sibling in Manchester atrocity found guilty of inciting assault
THE Manchester Arena bomber’s brother led a gang of Islamist “animals” who attacked a prison officer for taking away their televisions, a court has heard.
Hashem Abedi, 24, assaulted Paul Edwards in Belmarsh Prison’s high security unit alongside the Parsons Green bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and fellow terror convict Muhammed Saeed, 23.
Hashem, who is serving life in prison for helping his terrorist brother Salman Abedi target the Manchester Arena in 2017, hit Mr Edwards with a chair before his co-defendants repeatedly punched and kicked the officer.
The attack left Mr Edwards with “blood pouring down his face” and fearing he would be killed, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
The independent reviewer of terrorism laws has said it is problematic that the convicts were allowed to associate and form a gang behind bars
The men have been on trial for two weeks but the jury was not informed about their previous convictions. After delivering their guilty verdicts yesterday, some jurors appeared visibly shocked when they were informed of the defendant’s extremist history.
In 2018, Hassan was sentenced to a minimum term of 34 years after planting a device that injured 51 passengers at Parsons Green station, while Saeed was jailed for five years last May after pleading guilty to five counts of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.
The court heard that the attack occurred after Abedi and Hassan had both lost prison privileges, including being prevented from using their televisions, games stations and DVD players. The pair were disciplined by Mr Edwards after Abedi had used the telephone for long periods and shaved his head without permission, while Hassan had also had a haircut without permission, the jury heard.
Abedi, who was suspected of being the “amir” or “leader” of a group of Islamist terrorist inmates inside Belmarsh’s “prison within a prison”, was seen smiling in CCTV footage before he launched the attack.
Mr Edwards told jurors: “I feared for my life, and I genuinely thought if I hadn’t fought back I would’ve ended up with at least extreme injuries or dead.”
He said “it felt like a lifetime” before colleagues, including Nick Barnett, who has been a prison officer for 21 years, came to his aid seconds later.
“It was just like a pack of animals on Mr Edwards,” said Mr Barnett, who was kicked in the leg by Abedi during the attack. Mr Edwards suffered a laceration to his head, bruising to his back, rib cage and face and has lasting damage to his hearing.
The case shed light on how convicted terrorists are socialising in proximity in one of the most high security prisons in the country.
Jonathan Hall QC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, admitted it was a “problem” that the three convicted terrorists were allowed to associate behind bars and form a gang.
“This is a gang led by a terrorist mass murderer and the consequences of this sort of gang led by this sort of individual having influence within the prison are so serious that it has to be disrupted – in terms of the impact on other prisoners, recruitment and radicalisation within prison, and potential encouragement to further offences against the authorities,” Mr Hall said.
Mrs Justice Cheema-grubb sentenced Abedi to another three years and 10 months consecutive to his current sentence, while Hassan and Saeed were both handed three-year jail terms.