LONDON: The younger brother of the suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, was convicted Tuesday of murder for helping to plan the attack.
A jury at London’s Central Criminal Court found Hashem Abedi, 22, guilty of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder for those injured and one count of conspiring to cause explosions. Relatives of some victims sobbed as the jury foreman announced the unanimous guilty verdicts.
Abedi’s elder brother Salman Abedi died when he detonated a knapsack bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017. In addition to those killed, the attack injured more than 260 people.
Hashem Abedi had traveled to Libya, his parents’ homeland, before the attack in the northwest England city. He was detained in Tripoli by a militia allied with a UN-recognized government in the Libyan capital, and extradited to Britain last year.
He denied all the charges, but prosecutors described how he had helped to buy chemicals and bomb parts and bought a car that was used to store components for the device.
Abedi fired his lawyers part-way through the trial and and was not in the courtroom when the verdicts were announced.
Judge Jeremy Baker said he would rule on the sentence at a later date.
Director of Public Prosecutions Max Hill said 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.”
Manchester bomber’s brother convicted of 22 counts of murder
https://arab.news/9t45h
Manchester bomber’s brother convicted of 22 counts of murder
- Jury found Hashem Abedi, 22, guilty of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder for those injured and one count of conspiring to cause explosions
- Abedi’s elder brother Salman Abedi died when he detonated a knapsack bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena on May 22, 2017
Ethiopia begins $12.5 billion construction of ‘Africa’s biggest airport’
- The state-owned airline got the contract to design the four-runway airport in the town located around 45 km (28 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa
BISHOFTU: Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday officially started a $12.5 billion construction project for what officials say will be Africa’s biggest airport when completed in 2030 in the Ethiopian town of Bishoftu.
The state-owned airline got the contract to design the four-runway airport in the town located around 45 km (28 miles) southeast of Addis Ababa.
“Bishoftu International Airport will be the largest aviation infrastructure project in Africa’s history,” Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali said on X. The airport will have space to park 270 planes and capacity for 110 million passengers a year.
That is more than four times the capacity of Ethiopia’s current main airport, which will reach its limits on existing traffic in the next two-to-three years, Abiy said.
The airline’s Infrastructure Development & Planning Director Abraham Tesfaye told reporters it would fund 30 percent and lenders would finance the rest.
It has already allocated $610 million for earthworks, which are due to be completed in one year, he said at the site, with the main contractors scheduled to start work in August 2026.
The project was initially billed at $10 billion.
Other creditors include the African Development Bank, which last August said it would lend $500 million and lead efforts to raise $8.7 billion.
“Lenders from Middle East, Europe, China and USA have shown strong interest to finance the project,” Abraham said.
Ethiopian Airlines is Africa’s biggest carrier. It added six extra routes in 2024/25, while revenues are also expanding.
