Manchester Arena bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi, 24, will spend another three years in jail

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The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has been sentenced to another three years and 10 months of jail time after attacking two Belmarsh prison officers – but vowed ‘we will be leaving soon’.

Ringleader Hashem Abedi, 24, hit Paul Edwards, 57, with a chair before he, Parsons Green Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and a third convicted terrorist, Muhammed Saeed, 23, repeatedly punched and kicked him.

The terrorist trio – who had been housed in the High Security Unit that prevents the most dangerous terrorists from mixing with other inmates – rampaged through Mr Edwards’ office before setting upon him ‘like a pack of animals’. 

All three prisoners denied assault causing actual bodily harm to Mr Edwards but were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday by a jury after around three and a half hours of deliberations.

None of the jurors were told about the defendants’ previous criminal histories and were visibly shocked post-verdict as they discovered who Abedi was. 

He had chosen to represent himself at trial and accused prison staff of lying in court, and was also found guilty of assault by beating of an emergency worker after kicking prison officer Nick Barnett as he came to his colleague’s aid.

Members of the jury looked visibly shocked when they were later told of Abedi’s previous conviction, with the terrorist already serving a life term with a minimum of 55 years – the longest jail sentence ever imposed. 

Abedi was in Libya at the time of Manchester Arena attack, but was extradited to Britain in 2019 and finally convicted on March 17, 2020, two months before assaulting Edwards. 

His co-defendant, Ahmed Hassan had tried to set off a ‘Mother of Satan’ bomb on a tube train containing 93 people at Parson’s Green station in September 2017. 

He set a timer and got off the train leaving the device, packed with shrapnel, in a Lidl bag. It ignited in a fireball but did not explode as it injured dozens of commuters.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced Abedi to another three years and 10 months, of which he will serve half.

Hassan, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 34 years, and Saeed, who is serving a five-year sentence, were both handed three-year jail terms.

Before he was sentenced, Hashem Abedi told the judge: ‘I don’t think the sentence is going to make any difference. Inshallah, myself and all my brothers will be leaving the prison very soon.

‘The promises of Allah and the Prophet are more truthful than your sentence and your judgment.’ 

Abedi conspired with his elder brother, suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, who killed 22 people and injured hundreds more at the Manchester Arena on May 22 2017.

He was suspected of being the ‘amir’ or ‘leader’ of a group of Islamist terrorist inmates inside Belmarsh’s ‘prison within a prison,’ Woolwich Crown Court heard.

He is seen smiling in CCTV footage before he, Hassan and Saeed storm Mr Edwards’ office, where he operated an ‘open door policy’.

Mr Edwards, a custodian manager who has worked at Belmarsh for 25 years, told jurors he was hit with a chair, repeatedly punched and kicked on May 11 2020.

‘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. 

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 melee.

Mr Edwards, who can be seen with head injuries and blood on his shirt in pictures released by police, suffered a laceration to his head, bruising to his back, rib cage and face, and has lasting damage to his hearing. 

All three prisoners denied assault causing actual bodily harm (ABH) to Mr Edwards but were found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday by a jury after around three and a half hours of deliberations. 

Abedi was also found guilty of assault by beating of an emergency worker over the attack on Mr Barnett. 

Abedi is serving 24 life sentences with a minimum term of 55 years after he was found guilty by a jury in March 2020 of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life over the Manchester Arena attack.

Prison officers believed Abedi considered himself the ’emir’ or leader of the four Muslim prisoners in the high security unit.

He had demanded changes to the prison regime after the three men took part in a fight with non-Muslim prisoners on Spur 4 of the high security unit on March 1 2020, while he was on trial for 22 counts of murder.

Hassan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years in 2018 after planting a device that injured 51 passengers in September 2017.

The man who started the prison attack was Muhammed Saeed, from Trafford, Manchester, who was awaiting trial after encouraging an attack on two men who confronted a Muslim woman in a Youtube video at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, London in December 2019.

Saeed’s reaction to the Youtube video was said by the judge to be one of “extreme anger” – he exhorted others to join an attack and then discussed what sort of knife should be used with an undercover officer online, and instructed the officer to help him acquire the knife.

However, he was only charged with possessing documents useful for terrorism, including a copy of Rumiyah, an online magazine produced by ISIS, which offered advice on what types of knife to use, where on the body to strike and to attack during the hours of darkness.

He was eventually jailed for five years in May last year after pleading guilty in November 2020.

The jury was not told about their convictions or that all three were involved in a fight with a group of non-Muslim prisoners on March 1 2020, when their incentive and earned privileges (IEP) level was downgraded from ‘standard’ to ‘basic’.

This meant they lost privileges including use of their televisions, and would have had less association time, fewer visits and no access to items such as games stations and DVD players.

The court heard Abedi had orchestrated six complaint letters from prisoners, including Mohiussunnath Chowdhury, 30, a jihadist jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years in July 2020 after plotting a gun and knife rampage at London tourist hotspots.

Abedi and Hassan had their IEP downgraded again by Mr Edwards after shaving their heads without permission and Abedi met with the HSU governor to complain ‘he and his brothers wanted the regime changed’ on the day of the attack.

Abedi, who defended himself, was not allowed to cross-examine his victims but accused other prison officers of lying in their statements as he questioned them from the dock.

In a closing speech, he said: ‘I don’t think we get treated like other prisoners.’ 

When Abedi appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to answer the charge that he assaulted Mr Edwards, he said: ‘I did assault that filthy pig, but I don’t see any wrongdoing.’ 

Asked about the second charge, he was said to have replied: ‘Same as before, I don’t see any wrongdoing.’

At a later Crown Court appearance, Hassan told a judge: ‘I hate you very much, you are an evil man.’ 

Before he was sentenced, Hashem Abedi told the judge: ‘I don’t think the sentence is going to make any difference. Inshallah, myself and all my brothers will be leaving the prison very soon.

‘The promises of Allah and the Prophet are more truthful than your sentence and your judgment.’