Manchester Bomber-Linked Terrorist Returns to Prison After Just Weeks on Parole

People gather around floral tributes to the victims of the Manchester terror attack ahead of a vigil in St. Ann's Square in Manchester, England, on May 24, 2017. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A convicted terrorist with alleged links to the Manchester Arena bomber has been returned to prison for breaching his parole after being let out of jail on licence just six weeks ago.

Libyan born Abdalraouf Abdallah, 27, received a nine-year prison sentence in July 2016 after being found guilty of the preparation of terrorist acts and being involved in funding arrangements for terrorism.

He also assisted others involved in Islamic terrorism to travel to fight in Syria.

Visited by Bomber While in Prison

According to The Telegraph Abdallah was visited while in prison by Salmen Adebi the 22-year-old Briton born to Libyan parents who in August 2017 detonated a bomb in the packed foyer of the Manchester Arena as concertgoers were exiting the building.

The bomb killed Adebi himself and 22 other people including seven children, one of them just eight years old, at the end of a show by U.S. pop singer Ariana Grande.

But last year in order not to incriminate himself, Abdallah reportedly refused to give details to the inquiry into the atrocity despite being thought to have important evidence he could have given.

According to guidance sent to The Epoch Times via email from the Probation Service, he was returned to custody on Jan. 19 following a “breach of his license conditions.”

His re-release will be a matter for the Parole Board, it said.

Meanwhile Matt Dryden research fellow at the anti-extremism think tank, the Henry Jackson Society said in a statement emailed to The Epoch Times that Abdallah’s return to custody highlighted problems with release arrangements for terrorists.

Automatic Release ‘Fundamentally Flawed’

“Abdallah’s recall to prison for a breach of license conditions just weeks after his release is further evidence—were it necessary—of the fundamentally flawed policy of automatic release for terror offenders,” he said.

“The Government must now move to ensure no terrorist is released before they’ve satisfied the parole board that they don’t pose a risk to the public,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Probation Service, however, said that “Protecting the public is our number one priority so when offenders breach the conditions of their release and potentially pose an increased risk, we don’t hesitate to return them to custody.”

In 2014 Abdallah was active in a terrorist group based in Manchester where he, Salman Adebi, and Adebi’s younger brother Hashem Adebi who was sentenced to 55 years in prison for offenses related to the Manchester bombing, all grew up.

Abdallah was permanently paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair after he traveled to Libya in 2011 and suffered a gunshot wound to his back while fighting against the Gadaffi regime.

He was diagnosed with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and while previously in custody was provided with a specially adapted cell due to the disability he had sustained during the fighting.

The Telegraph reported that Abdallah’s breach of probation terms was not related to terror but to behavior in the rehabilitation facility where he had been living.