Manchester Arena bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi, 24, will spend another three years in jail
Manchester Arena bomber’s brother Hashem Abedi, 24, will spend another three years in jail on top of his 55-year sentence after attacking an officer in Belmarsh – and tells judge, ‘it won’t make a difference…myself and my brothers will be leaving soon’
Hashem, brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi, launched attackHe was helped by Tube bomber Ahmed Hassan, 22, and Muhammed Saeed, 23All three denied assault causing actual bodily harm but were found guilty
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
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 rampaged through his 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.
Abedi, who is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 55 years, 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.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb sentenced him 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, 24, Hassan, 21, and a third defendant, 23-year-old Muhammed Saeed (pictured left to right) are on trial
Injuries on prison officer Paul Edwards who was attacked at HMP Belmarsh on May 11 2020.
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.
It came as the 24-year-old told Woolwich Crown Court he ‘was not here to complain’ over conditions inside HMP Belmarsh in London. Pictured: Three defendants smiling to each other before the alleged attack
Blood on a desk at the scene of the incident in which prison officer Paul Edwards was attacked
The office chair used in an attack on prison officer Paul Edwards at HMP Belmarsh in 2020
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.
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.
Saeed was jailed for five years last May after pleading guilty to five counts of possessing an article for terrorist purposes.
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 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.
the scene of the incident in which prison officer Paul Edwards was attacked at HMP Belmarsh on May 11 2020
Items collected at the scene of the incident in which prison officer Paul Edwards was attacked at HMP Belmarsh
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.’
