The brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has been found guilty of the murder of 22 people and helping to plan one of the deadliest terror attacks in the history of the United Kingdom, according to the British Press Association.
Hashem Abedi, the younger brother of Salman Abedi who killed 22 people and wounded more than 100 others when he blew himself up in 2017 outside an Ariana Grande concert at the arena in Manchester, England, was convicted of 22 counts of murder, one count of attempted murder encompassing the remaining injured, and one count of conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
The judge said he would be sentenced at a later date so that victims’ families could have the opportunity to attend. The judge also said victim impact statements would be collected.
Max Hill, Britain's director of public prosecutions, said Hashem Abedi had "blood on his hands."
"Hashem Abedi encouraged and helped his brother knowing that Salman Abedi planned to commit an atrocity," Hill said in a statement. "He has blood on his hands even if he didn’t detonate the bomb."
Hill added: "My thoughts are with the families of those who died and the hundreds of survivors. We should remember the 22 lives lost and those around the country whose lives have been changed forever."
London's Old Bailey court was told Abedi helped his brother get the components of the homemade bomb and that together they experimented with its construction, buying screws and nails to be used as shrapnel, Reuters reported.
Hashem Abedi was in Libya when the attack took place and became the first suspect to be successfully extradited to Britain when he was sent back in July 2019, according to Reuters.
The Abedi family emigrated to Britain in the 1990s during the rule of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, later moving from London to the Fallowfield area of south Manchester. Hashem Abedi was born in Manchester and the brothers' father returned to Libya after Gaddafi was toppled in 2011.
