Hashem Abedi, the younger brother of the suicide bomber who blew himself up at a concert in Manchester in 2017, is being extradited from Libya to the UK, Libyan authorities said on Wednesday, Euronews reports.
“I confirm you that Hashem (Abedi) is now in the air on his way to the UK … he is extradited in accordance to a court verdict,” said a spokesman for the Tripoli-based Special Deterrence Force (Rada).
Britain issued an arrest warrant for Abedi in November 2017, six months after his 22-year-old brother, Salman Abedi, blew himself up at the end of a show by US singer Ariana Grande.
Twenty-two people were killed in the attack, including seven children, while at least a further 500 people were wounded.
Hashem Abedi was arrested by Libyan authorities days after the attack, which was claimed by the so-called Islamic State.
Rada later said that Abedi had told them his brother Salman had been radicalised in Britain in 2015 and that he had accompanied his brother to Libya a month before the Manchester Arena bombing to buy equipment for it. He denied knowing, however, that his brother was planning the attack.
The two brothers were both born in Britain to Libyan parents who had fled Muammar Gaddafi’s regime but returned to their native county in 2011 after he was overthrown.