Manchester Arena bomb plotter charged with three counts of attempted murder
The charges follow an investigation by counter-terror police into an attack at HMP Frankland in Durham on 12 April.
Three prison officers were treated in hospital after the incident, in which hot cooking oil was thrown over them and they were stabbed with a homemade weapon.
Hashem Abedi, 28, is the brother of Salman Abedi, who carried out the Manchester Arena suicide bombing, which killed 22 people. Abedi was jailed for a minimum of 55 years in 2020 for helping his brother to plan the 2017 attack.
On Wednesday, Counter Terrorism Policing North East said Abedi had been charged with five offences after the incident which injured four prison officers. It said that in line with interim guidance also issued on Wednesday by the National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Policing, clarity regarding Abedi's nationality and ethnicity was available to the media on request. A spokesperson later said: 'His nationality is British, and his ethnicity is Asian (self defined).'
Counter Terrorism Policing North East said it had carried out a 'thorough investigation' of the incident with Durham Constabulary and HMP Frankland. Police said the Crown Prosecution Service had authorised charges of three counts of attempted murder, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and one count of unauthorised possession in prison of a knife or offensive weapon.
Abedi will appear at Westminster magistrates court on 18 September. Police said he remained in custody 'within the prison estate'.
The attack at a separation unit at HMP Frankland led to questions around prisoner access to cooking facilities.
The Ministry of Justice said there would be a full review of how the incident was allowed to happen.
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