Terrorist linked to Manchester Arena bomber to be released after refusing to speak to police
Abdalraouf Abdallah is thought to have ‘important evidence’ on the 2017 terrorist attack
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Your support makes all the difference.A terrorist who was visited in jail twice by the Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi is to be released on parole later this week.
Abdalraouf Abdallah, 27, from Manchester, was convicted of terrorist offences in 2016 and was given a sentence of nine-and-a-half years, the last four of which were due to be spent on licence.
His release comes amid a public inquiry into the 2017 bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, which left 22 people dead and hundreds more injured.
The inquiry has heard that Abdallah has “important evidence” to give on the background of the attack. However, he is currently refusing to speak to police, citing his legal privilege not to answer questions which might incriminate himself.
Abedi visited Abdallah in Belmarsh Prison in February 2015 and then, following the latter’s sentencing, at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool in January 2017.
M15 and a local terrorism unit inquired about the nature of the first visit, although this did not lead to Abedi being declared a Subject of Interest, the inquiry has been told.
Although Abdallah was considered to be a “dangerous” offender by the judge who sentenced him, he was able to receive unvetted visitors because he was a Category B inmate.
In the UK, all prisoners are given a category from A to D based on the threat they pose and only those who are classified at the highest security risk of A need their visitors to be pre-approved.
The pair are known to have discussed martyrdom and to have spoken over the phone, with prison authorities at HMP Altcourse finding Abdallah had attempted to call Abedi three months before the bombing on an illicit phone.
Abedi became radicalised in the months before he carried out the deadly terrorist attack and the inquiry seeks, among other things, to identify how this happened.
A source told the BBC that Abdallah will be released on the strictest parole. The measures are thought to include being fitted with a GPS tag, adhering to a curfew, taking part in a de-radicalisation scheme and only using the internet under supervision.
He was paralysed in 2011 while fighting in Libya, before coming back to the UK to receive treatment.
Abdallah was later found guilty of preparing and funding acts of terrorism, having helped four people to get to Syria, including his older brother Mohammed Abdallah, 29, who is now serving a 10-year prison sentence in the UK.
Additional reporting from PA