LONDON – Manchester Arena’s suicide bomber’s brother was sentenced on Thursday to a minimum of 55 years in prison for killing 22 people and helping plan one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in British history .
Hashem Abedi, the younger brother of the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, who also injured 100 others when he blamed himself in 2017 at the arena in Manchester, England, shortly after a concert by Ariana Grande. Abedi refused to enter the courtroom at the Central Criminal Court in London, known as the Old Bailey.
The judge, Justice Justice Jeremy Baker, said he would have received a full life sentence if “as his brother was 21 or at the time of the crime.”
He said his crime showed a significant degree of premeditation and was motivated by a desire to advance the ideology of Islamism, “a matter that distinguishes and detests the vast majority of those who follow the Islamic faith. . “
He added that Abedi “the minimum term he has to serve 55 years should be clear”, adding that he may never be released.
The conviction came after a series of emotional statements from families of the victims were read out in court on Wednesday.
The judge delayed the conviction after Abedi was found guilty in March, due to the coronavirus pandemic. He insisted that the families should attend the hearing and said he wanted to give them time to make their statements.
At the trial in March, attorney Duncan Penny told QC the court that Abedi was “just as guilty” as his brother, who killed 22 men, women and children when he blamed himself when concertmates left the arena.
He said they ordered chemicals from Amazon while hiding their activities by exchanging phones and exchanging cars. Together they experimented with its construction, and bought screws and nails to use as shrapnel, the court heard.
While her plans were briefly thwarted when her parents joined her in Libya in April 2017, Salman Abedi returned to carry out the plot.
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Hashem Abedi was in Libya when the attack took place and became the first suspect to be successfully extradited from Libya to Britain when he was sent back in July 2019, according to the British Crown Prosecution Service.
The Abedi family emigrated to Britain in the 1990s under the rule of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, and later moved from London to the Fallowfield area of southern Manchester.
Hashem Abedi was born in Manchester and the brothers’ father returned to Libya after Gaddafi was assassinated in 2011.
Outside the court, some of the family members of the victims thank the judge.
“We want to thank Mr. Justice Barker for imposing the greatest sentence ever in these circumstances,” said Mark Rutherford, whose daughter Chloe Rutherford was 17 when she died in the attack.
Fig Murray, whose son Martyn Hett was among those killed in the blast, said the sentence had “reaffirmed to us that British justice is strong and honest and punishes those who break the law.”
In a statement following the sentencing, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the victims “would never be forgotten.”
“Today’s condemnation is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of tolerance, community and friendliness – values that are fundamental to our country, and that we saw in Manchester in the face of unimaginable tragedy,” he added. .
