Father of bombing suspect tries clear son’s name even as authorities arrest two more sons on suspicions of terror related activity in different corners of the globe
Ramadan Abedi, 52, speaking from Tripoli said: ‘We don’t believe in killing innocents. This is not us’.
Said his son [Salman], always professed that there was no ‘religious justification’ for violence
He spoke to his 22-year-old Salman two days prior, and he sounded ‘normal’
Ramadan was arrested with his third son Hesham Abedi, 20, in Tripoli, Libya on Wednesday
Libyan security forces said Hesham was ‘aware of all the details’ of his brother’s plans
Older brother Ismail Abedi, 23, was arrested in Manchester, Monday night, shortly after the concert terror attack by his sibling with whom he shared a home
British anti-terror forces had to execute a controlled detonation of a device found in the Manchester home
‘Concert bomber’ Salman Abedi
Salman Abedi [photos above] killed 22 people and injured at least 119 more when he detonated a bomb at Manchester Arena on Monday night as children were piling out of the venue having watched Ariana Grande.
His father, Ramadan Abedi, speaking with reporters from Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday confirmed his 22-year-old British born, son Salman had visited the North African country about a month-and-a-half ago and had plans to travel to the Muslim holy site Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
However, the elder Abedi stated his belief that his son, the alleged Manchester suicide bomber, was innocent and his character dissimilar to the current portrayal of his heinous deeds
“We don’t believe in killing innocents,” he told the Associated Press Wednesday. “This is not us.”
Abedi, a former business student who recently dropped out of college, made frequent trips to Libya, where his family lived, and a French official said he likely traveled to Syria.
Ramadan Abedi denied Wednesday that his son had anything to do with the deadly attack that killed 22 people and maimed a further 119.
Hesham Abedi arrested Wednesday in Tripoli, Libya for suspected ISIS links
Ramadan Abedi and his third son Hesham, were taken into custody by security personnel in the Libyan capital, Tripoli on Wednesday
Bllombergnews reported that three vehicles drove up to the Abedi home Wednesday evening and several men wearing uniform, some of them masked, detained Ramadan Abedi, the alleged attacker’s father, and two other unidentified men in the street.
Ramadan Abedi, arrested in Tripoli along with third son, Hesham
Hesham, Abedi, is daid to have known the deatils of his brother’s plan
Ramadan Abedi said he spoke to his 22-year-old son Salman five days ago as he prepared to visit Saudi Arabia and tha.
Speaking to AP by phone from Tripoli, the one time security officer in Gaddafi’s regime protested his son’s innocence even as two more of his boys were being arrested in Manchester and Tripoli for their connections with ISIS.“My son was as religious as any child who opens his eyes in a religious family,” said the father, who arrived in the UK from Libya in the 1990s, Bloomberg News reported.
“As we were discussing news of similar attacks earlier, he was always against those attacks, saying there’s no religious justification for them. I don’t understand how he’d have become involved in an attack that led to the killing of children,” he said.
Shortly before his arrest Wednesday, Ramadan Abedi fielded questions from the media from his home in Tripoli, Libya and proclaimed his son innocent
Ramadan said his son visited Libya last week and had told his mother that he planned to go on a pilgrimage to Mecca.
“Until now my son is a suspect, and the authorities haven’t come up with a final conclusion,” Abedi said. “Every father knows his son and his thoughts, my son does not have extremist thoughts.”
He said another son, Ismail, was busted in England on Tuesday morning.
And a younger son, Hesham, was busted in Tripoli on Wednesday on suspicion of having ties to ISIS, Reuters reported.
23-year-old, Ismael Abedi, the eldest of the ‘Three Terror Brothers’ from Manchester was arrested at his Manchester address on Monday night
Anti-terror police accost Ismail and place him in custody over possible links with ISIS, Monday
Ramadan said he served as a security officer during Moammar Gadhafi’s rule before being accused by his regime of links to extremist groups, accusations he vehemently denies. Libyan authorities said the elder Abedi fought against the regime in 2001 with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which the US designated a terrorist organization in 2004, The Guardian reported.
The US State Department said that elements of LIFG were aligned with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
Ramadan fled Libya and sought asylum in the UK in 1993 but returned to Libya in 2008 and was joined by most of his family after Gadhafi’s ouster. Salman and Ismail stayed in the UK to finish their studies. He is now the administrative manager of the Central Security force in Tripoli.
Investigators found the detonator at the explosion site
The battery was also found
Nuts, bolts and screws formed the deadly shrapnel for the explosive device
Latest reports said the alleged suicide bomber, Ramadan Abedi’s second son Salman, appeared to have carried a powerful explosive in a metal container, which was either concealed inside a black vest or blue Karrimor backpack, according investigators.
A small handheld detonator was used to explode the bomb that is said to have contained nails, nuts and bolts to ensure maximum casualties.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Leave a Reply