The brother of a suicide bomber who killed nearly two dozen people after an Ariana Grande concert at England’s Manchester Arena was convicted of murder Tuesday for helping his sibling plan and carry out the attack about three years ago.
The jury found that 22-year-old Hashem Abedi helped make the explosives that his brother Salman detonated inside the crowded venue on May 22, 2017, killing 22 concertgoers and wounding nearly 1,000 others, many of whom were children and teens.
Prosecutors said the two brothers used at least three different addresses in England to prepare the attack before Abedi fled to Libya. He was arrested in that country just days later and was extradited to London for the trial.
“Although he was in Libya at the time of the attack, Hashem Abedi is every bit as guilty as his dead brother and this is reflected in the judgment we see today,” Russ Jackson, assistant chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said in a statement.
“He was his brother’s driver, the quartermaster sourcing deadly material and the munitions technician in those months running up to the attack,” he said.
Abedi previously told investigators that both he and his brother were members of ISIS.
The bombing was the deadliest in a series of terrorist attacks in London and Manchester in 2017.
“Twenty-two lives had been suddenly and brutally taken in a barbaric act, leaving behind heartbroken families and friends,” Jackson said, recounting the arena bombing. “Their loss is sorely felt and, for many, the pain of that loss will never ever heal.”
Abedi, who chose not to appear for most of the six-week trial, was found guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life.
His sentencing has not been scheduled.
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