UPDATE: Prison Unit emptied after Manchester bomber attack

BBC ^ | April 16 | BBC

[RandFan]

All prisoners held in the terrorism prison unit where Manchester Arena bomber Hashem Abedi attacked guards have been moved, the BBC has been told.

There were seven prisoners in the HMP Frankland separation centre at the time of Abedi's attack on Saturday, including the extremist preacher Anjem Choudary.

The centre has now been emptied and is the subject of an ongoing counter-terrorism investigation into the attack, which saw Abedi throw hot oil at officers and stab them with improvised blades.

Abedi himself has been moved to London's high-security Belmarsh prison, while the other six prisoners in have been moved to HMP Woodhill, a source told the BBC.

The Frankland separation centre is now a crime scene, with counter-terror detectives investigating Saturday's attack.

One line of inquiry is whether any other inmates in the unit knew about the attack in advance or assisted in the planning and preparation.

The incident has not yet been declared a terrorist attack by the senior national co-ordinator for counterterrorism, whose responsibility it is to make the formal assessment.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has said there will be a full, independent review into the incident, which has drawn criticism from survivors and the families of victims of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Martin Hibbert, a survivor of the 2017 attack, criticised how Abedi was given the "comfort and privilege" of kitchen facilities and said he was furious the pain of survivors was being so "blatantly disrespected".

[RandFan]

Well this is a surprise to me. 7 of the worst terror inmates in that unit have been dispersed and the place closed it seems. Abedi sent to Belmarsh (harder time)

[noiseman]

The headline sounded like it was from World War II.

[Gay State Conservative]

Can’t prison officials just arrange for those savages to get a shiv in the back of the neck in the showers? Something like what Tommie did to Morrie in Goodfellas.

[usurper]

Well this is a surprise to me. 7 of the worst terror inmates in that unit have been dispersed and the place closed it seems. Abedi sent to Belmarsh (harder time)

I understand that El Salvador has vacancies at greatly reduced rates. The inmates all rage about how much they love the sandwiches.

[epluribus_2]

Does it seem odd that his Majesty’s Police, courts, and home defense forces treat today’s violent, anti-christian, imperialist invaders way gentler than they treated the northern Irish during the troubles.

[old school]

The British and others (France et ali) have invited this malevolence upon themselves.

It’s disgusting how mannerly they are in treating this dilemma!

[hanamizu]

Don’t hear about such attacks at Florence, Colorado nor at the Russian prison Black Dolphin. Perhaps the Brits might take notes.

[Libloather]

Anjem Choudary (Urdu: انجم چودهرى, aka Abu Luqman;[5] born 18 January 1967) is a British Islamist who has been described as “the face” of militant Islamism or the “best known” Islamic extremist in Britain.[nb 1] He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2024 after being found guilty of directing a terror organisation.[11]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anjem_Choudary