Manchester bomber's brother guilty of murder

Hashem Abedi, the brother of the Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi, was on Tuesday found guilty of 22 counts of murder by a court in Britain.

The 22-year-old was convicted of conspiring with his brother to detonate a bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.

Twenty-two people died and more than 800 were injured in the blast, which happened just as parents arrived to collect their children.

Although Hashem Abedi wasn't at the scene — or even in the UK at the time of the atrocity — his trial heard that his DNA and fingerprints were found in properties where the bomb was made.

Despite him denying any involvement, prosecutors had said Salman's younger brother was just as guilty as he helped his sibling plan the attack.

London's Old Bailey court was told Hashem helped his brother get the components for the homemade bomb. Together they built it, and bought screws and nails to be used as shrapnel.

The pair, whose family emigrated to Britain during the rule of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, stored and made the device at an address in Manchester.

Explosives stored in car

Just before they returned to Libya in mid-April 2017, they bought a car to store the bomb-making equipment.

"Hashem Abedi encouraged and helped his brother knowing that Salman Abedi planned to commit an atrocity. He has blood on his hands even if he didn’t detonate the bomb," Max Hill, Britain's Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement.

Hashem became the first suspect to be successfully extradited to Britain from Libya when he was sent back in July 2019.

Although the “Islamic State” (IS) armed group claimed responsibility for the blast, British intelligence officials have cast doubt on its involvement.

A public inquiry into the bombing is due to begin later this year after the UK's domestic intelligence service MI5 was found to have missed potential opportunities to prevent the tragedy.

mm/ng (AFP, Reuters)