Manchester Arena bomber's brother Hashem Abedi 'refuses all attempts to de-radicalise him in prison'
The brother of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi has reportedly refused all attempts to de-radicalise him in prison.
Hashem Abedi was jailed for life with a minimum of 55 years in August 2020 for helping to plan the attack, which killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in May 2017.
But, according to ITV News, Abedi is refusing to co-operate with officials at HMP Frankland in County Durham who are attempting the de-radicalisation process.
As a result, Abedi has now been moved to a "separation centre" away from other prisoners over fears he could radicalise other inmates.
ITV News said Abedi is being held with four other prisoners at the separation centre, which is reserved for the most radical terrorists and is known as a “prison within a prison”.
Richard Vipond, probation officer and prison offender manager at HMP Frankland, told the broadcaster: “One particular person I was working with, we opened his cell door and he said: 'I’m not going talk to you, you’re an enemy of Islam, you’re an Islamophobe, you're my enemy.
Watch: The brothers who bombed Manchester Arena
"There are some people that are so entrenched in their views, in their ideologies and their beliefs, that we just become a holding centre for them."
The programmes says that while inside HMP Frankland, it observed a man believed to be Abedi on security footage socialising with another inmate identified as a former Taliban fighter who was jailed for plotting terror attacks in the UK.
Darren Finley, the governor at Frankland, said that despite Abedi’s resistance, authorities must keep trying to rehabilitate and de-radicalise prisoners.
He said: "The management of those offenders is disproportionate to resource, and there's a lot of resource being put into the safe management and risk management of them.
"Those individuals came to prison for a specific reason and most will be released back into the community at some point."
Abedi denied 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life at the start of his trial at the Old Bailey.
In a pre-prepared defence statement, Abedi denied any involvement in the bombing, claiming to have been “shocked” by what his brother, who was killed as he detonated the device.
He also insisted he did not hold extremist views but it in December it emerged at the public inquiry into the attack that Abedi admitted he “played a full part” into the planning and preparation of the bombing.
A recorded prison interview also showed that he confessed to supporting Islamic State and being in favour of “violent jihad and a supporter of the institutions of Sharia law through violence”.
Watch: Survivors speak at the Manchester Arena inquiry
