LONDON: The brother of a suicide bomber who killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in 2017 on Wednesday refused to attend his sentencing hearing for murder.
A jury found Hashem Abedi, now 23, guilty of 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and conspiring to cause explosions at the gig in northwest England after a trial that ended in March.
The attack, carried out by Salman Abedi, 22, inspired by Daesh, was one of the deadliest terror attacks ever carried out in Britain, and left more than 200 people injured.
The defendant had sacked his legal team and refused to leave prison to attend the trial at the Central Criminal Court in London.
Judge Jeremy Baker said although he had been brought to court as required for the two-day sentencing hearing, he had refused to come to the courtroom and still had no legal representation.
“He has had every opportunity and has been encouraged to have legal representation. But he has made it clear and I am satisfied that he does not wish to be present at this hearing,” he said.
Family members of some of the victims and survivors were in court for the sentencing, which will determine how long Manchester-born Abedi spends in prison.
Others were following proceedings via videolink in Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and Glasgow.
Judge Baker said he cannot be given a whole-life term — ensuring he would never be released — because he was aged under 21 at the time of the offenses.
Hashem Abedi was in Libya when the attack took place at the Manchester Arena on the evening of May 22, 2017, but his trial heard he had helped his brother plan it for several months.
He obtained chemicals for the homemade bomb, found an address to make and store it, and bought a car to transport the materials.
Detectives who investigated the blast said both brothers were equally responsible and called them “proper jihadis.”
Manchester bomber’s brother snubs sentencing hearing
https://arab.news/6v39x
Manchester bomber’s brother snubs sentencing hearing
- The defendant had sacked his legal team and refused to leave prison to attend the trial at the Central Criminal Court in London
- Detectives who investigated the blast said both brothers were equally responsible
Brazilian ex-President Jair Bolsonaro undergoes double hernia surgery
- He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure
- The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours
SAO PAULO: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is undergoing double hernia surgery on Thursday at a hospital in the country’s capital, his family said.
Bolsonaro, who has been hospitalized since Wednesday, has been serving a 27-year prison sentence since November for an attempted coup.
He was granted court permission to leave prison after federal police doctors confirmed that he needed the procedure. The surgery in Brasilia is expected to last about four hours, the DF Star hospital medical team said in a statement Wednesday.
Doctors say Bolsonaro’s double hernia causes him pain. The former leader, who was in power between 2019 and 2022, has gone through several other surgeries since he was stabbed in the abdomen during a campaign rally in 2018.
Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversaw Bolsonaro’s coup trial and sentenced him to prison, authorized the procedure, but denied the former president’s request for house arrest after he leaves the hospital.
Bolsonaro doesn’t have any contact with the few other inmates at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia, where he is held and where his 12-square-meter (around 130-square-foot) room has a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a television and a desk, according to authorities.
He has free access to his doctors and lawyers, but other visitors must receive approval from the Supreme Court. On Wednesday, de Moraes authorized Bolsonaro’s sons to visit him while he’s hospitalized. His wife, Michelle Bolsonaro, is accompanying him.
Early Thursday, his eldest son, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, told reporters before the surgery that his father had written a letter confirming he had appointed him as his political party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election. Flávio Bolsonaro announced on Dec. 5 that he will challenge President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is seeking a fourth nonconsecutive term, as the candidate of Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.
The senator read the letter to journalists, and his office released a reproduction of it to the media.
“He represents the continuation of the path of prosperity that I began well before becoming president, as I believe we must restore the responsibility of leading Brazil with justice, resolve and loyalty to the aspirations of the Brazilian people,” Bolsonaro said in the handwritten letter, dated Dec. 25.
The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democratic system following his 2022 election defeat.
The plot included plans to kill Lula, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and de Moraes. There was also a plan to encourage an insurrection in early 2023.
Bolsonaro was also convicted on charges that include leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law. He has denied any wrongdoing.
