Salman Abedi was led towards terrorism due to the influence of his parents’ extremist beliefs and the ongoing civil war in their native country.
Salman Abedi, who was born in Manchester on December 31, 1994, began his journey towards becoming one of the deadliest terrorists in the UK in his parents’ home country of Libya. Ramadan Abedi and Samia Tabbal fled to the UK from Libya in 1993, claiming asylum due to the persecution they faced under Muammar Gaddafi’s regime. The family settled in Fallowfield, South Manchester, and the children attended local schools. However, the conflict in Libya remained a significant issue for the Abedi family, with frequent trips between Manchester and Tripoli. Ramadan was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an Islamist organization that opposed Gaddafi, according to testimony at the Manchester Arena inquiry.
The chair of the inquiry, Sir John Saunders, holds the opinion that the Abedi family bears a significant responsibility for the radicalization of Salman and his younger brother, Hashem, who is currently serving a life sentence for his role in plotting the attack. According to Saunders, the extremist views of their parents and older brother Ismail had an influence on Salman and Hashem’s ideology. In September 2011, just a month before the rebel fighters killed Gaddafi, the Abedi family returned to Libya. Police evidence suggests that at that time, Salman and Hashem, who were 16 and 14 years old respectively, fought as part of the civil war.
During the inquiry, photographs were presented showing the brothers carrying weapons and dressed in military uniforms with the sons of Abu Anas al-Libi, an al-Qaida commander who was associated with the bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. According to Saunders, this would have been a “significant experience” for the teenagers.
At that point, the north-west counter-terrorism police had already identified Salman as a person of interest. On December 30, 2010, the day before his 16th birthday, police informed MI5 that Salman was associated with an address that was relevant to a “trace” request, and he had been stopped and searched twice, but nothing suspicious was discovered. A “trace” involves verifying whether the Security Service has any “adverse information” on an individual by checking their databases.
In September 2012, the three older Abedi brothers returned to Manchester from Libya without their parents. Salman joined Manchester College, but within a month, he assaulted a female student by striking her on the back of her head. Ismail was the one who participated in meetings regarding his brother’s conduct. The college was apprehensive about the absence of their parents and requested that the police conduct a welfare check, but they did not refer him to Channel or Prevent, the anti-extremism initiatives.
The act of violence was not regarded as a demonstration of extreme religious ideology, but rather as a sign of bad temper. Saunders acknowledged that this was a plausible conclusion, but he stated that “misogynistic violence” should be acknowledged as a possible indication of radicalization in the future.
In 2013, Salman began studying at Trafford College in Greater Manchester. A member of staff informed the inquiry that she had observed a photo on his phone that depicted him holding a gun. She did not take any action after the teenager explained that his family had substantial property in Tripoli, and he went shooting there.
Saunders ruled that when considered together with other indicators, “This image was another potential indicator of extremism that should have justified a referral to Prevent.” Saunders also noted that Libya had a negative impact on Salman, citing a relative who testified that upon his return, Salman engaged in activities such as partying, drinking, smoking weed, and appeared to be addicted to tramadol.
At 19 years old, in March 2014, Salman was designated a “subject of interest” by MI5 due to his association with an individual identified in the public inquiry as “subject A.”
Within two weeks of the Islamic State declaring a caliphate on 29 June 2014, Salman Abedi and his younger brother Hashem returned to Libya where the civil war had resumed, prompting the Royal Navy to evacuate them due to the danger posed by extremist militias in the area. Back in the UK, Salman’s status as a “subject of interest” was closed on 21 July 2014, as he had not engaged with any individuals of interest, according to Saunders’ ruling.
According to the judge, the security services should have given more scrutiny to Salman’s relationship with a young Libyan-Mancunian named Abdalraouf Abdallah, who was badly injured in combat in Libya. “Upon returning to Manchester, he was seen as a hero among vulnerable young men from Muslim backgrounds who were susceptible to Islamic State propaganda,” Saunders wrote.
Abdallah and Salman had been friends since they were very young, according to Abdallah’s testimony to the inquiry. In November 2014, when Abdallah was being monitored by MI5, the two exchanged over 1,000 messages. Abdallah was later arrested, and Salman visited him while he was in jail awaiting trial. After Abdallah was convicted of terrorism charges and imprisoned in May 2016, Salman communicated with him through an illegal phone and visited him again in January 2017.
According to Saunders, another probable influence on Salman was Raphael Hostey, who went to Syria to join IS and was later killed in a drone strike. Prior to his death, Hostey played a significant role in recruiting people for the group, particularly from his community in south Manchester, and became a prominent propagandist. Saunders believes that it was in Libya, just a few weeks before the attack, where Salman likely received instructions on how to build the bomb that resulted in the deaths of 22 innocent individuals at an Ariana Grande concert.
According to investigators, it is believed that Salman and Hashem viewed an IS video posted online in 2016, which featured a masked instructor demonstrating how to make triacetone triperoxide, an explosive substance. However, this cannot be definitively confirmed, as only two of the 14 electronic devices used by the brothers were ever retrieved.
Saunders, on the other hand, believes that the brothers lacked the intelligence to make such a complex bomb without prior practice. The judge stated that neither brother possessed qualifications in any relevant academic discipline such as chemistry or mathematics, as mentioned in volume three of the Manchester Arena inquiry report.
According to Saunders, Salman’s educational background was unremarkable. The judge observed that the bomber exhibited “troublesome” conduct during his time at Burnage Academy in south Manchester, where he was implicated in 15 episodes of “severe insolence towards personnel, brawling, cursing, theft, and disorderly behavior.”
Saunders concluded that “it is probable” Salman obtained hands-on training on how to build an improvised explosive device (IED) during his stay in Libya between April 15, 2017, and May 18, 2017.
According to the judge, it is probable that Salman had a special Sistema 45910 switch, used for detonating the bomb, with him when he returned to Manchester on 18 May 2017 to carry out the suicide attack. Saunders also believes that someone in Libya advised Salman on how to make his bomb even deadlier, as he had replaced some of the ingredients in the final few days before the attack. The judge questioned whether the security services should have monitored those travelling to and from Libya more closely, as they seemed to be more focused on preventing people from going to Syria at the time of the attack.
Saunders wrote that in his view, the Security Service applied a threshold that was too high when deciding whether to investigate individuals returning from Libya, which was a risky position. This was especially true in south Manchester, which was identified in 2010 by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre as a location where young members of the Libyan community were vulnerable to radicalization.
Ultimately, it may never be known for certain why Salman committed the attack, as he did not leave a note or propaganda video before blowing himself up. However, Saunders did come to a conclusion regarding what drove his heinous act, attributing blame to the “noxious” absence of his parents and the “malign presences” of peers who radicalized him.
During his presentation of the report on Thursday, he expressed regret to the grieving families for not being able to provide answers to all of their questions. He stated that he had asked the questions and received answers, but due to national security concerns, he was unable to disclose the details publicly.
