Manchester terrorist was granted taxpayer money in religious discrimination claim
The Manchester Arena terrorist who seriously injured three prison officers in a knife attack was granted £1,200 in taxpayers' money for legal aid to pursue a complaint of religious discrimination.
Hashem Abedi's lawyers were granted the money to fight the complaint, which he lodged from his high-security prison cell. It was rejected by the Ministry of Justice, and he did not pursue it any further.
It came on top of the legal aid his lawyers got to fight his trial defence, even though he refused to take part in the court process. Figures disclosed under freedom of information laws showed the funds paid to his legal team now stand at £354,015.
The alleged religious discrimination happened before Abedi, serving a life sentence for his part in 22 murders in the Manchester Arena attack, used two home-made knives and hot cooking oil to assault three prison officers at high-security HMP Frankland, in County Durham.
He was being held in a separation unit for Islamist prisoners when he mounted the attack, and has since been moved to HMP Belmarsh, in south London.
It is understood the case concerned a claim lodged on March 28 last year regarding searches of religious headwear.
He was jailed in 2020 for a minimum of 55 years for helping his suicide bomber brother Salman kill 22 Ariana Grande fans in 2017. In 2022, he was given another three years and 10 months for attacking two officers at Belmarsh Prison.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, said: 'This is just another outrageous example of taxpayers' money being wasted on a convicted mass killer.'
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'Hashem Abedi never received a penny of taxpayers' money – legal aid went directly to lawyers. We resisted his legal claim, and he did not pursue it further.'
MoJ sources said the £1,256 civil legal aid was paid directly to legal representatives, not to Abedi himself. The MoJ strongly denied liability, and no damages or additional legal costs were paid by it.
Officials said the Legal Aid Agency operates independently from ministers when making decisions on individual applications for funding. Civil legal aid is subject to a merits test and a strict means test based on eligibility criteria set out in legislation.
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