Abedi called teacher an Islamophobe (original) (raw)

The Manchester bomber was in an Arabic-speaking “clique” at school which accused a teacher of Islamophobia for criticising a suicide bomber in class, The Times has learnt.

Salman Abedi, 22, who grew up on council estates in south Manchester, was viewed in his school days as an angry young man who did not quite fit in.

During his time at Burnage Academy for Boys between 2009 and 2011, Abedi is believed to have been among a group of boys who took issue with a teacher who had “asked what they thought of someone who would strap on a bomb and blow people up,” a source said. “A group went to complain to their RE teacher saying it was Islamophobic.”

“He [Abedi] was a silly boy, not very serious,” the friend, who asked not to be named, added. “He was not smart enough to be a mastermind or anything like that.”

Another former classmate recalled him as being “a bit slow” and having an unusually squeaky voice. “He had anger issues. He would get easily wound up and I remember he would storm out of class a lot because he didn’t like the teacher’s attitude,” the classmate said.

While at Burnage, Abedi is said to have hung out with a group of Somalis and would often smoke cannabis. “His friends were Somali guys,” one former Burnage pupil said. “They would all go to shisha bars and hang out with girls.”

Abedi’s father moved back to Libya to join rebels fighting against Colonel Gaddafi in 2011. His son made frequent trips to visit him in subsequent years but they clashed over the younger man’s western habits.

“Salman smoked and he drank, he wasn’t very practising as he was growing up,” said Mohamed Fadl, 25, an IT consultant in Manchester who knew the family well.

However, over the last year or two, acquaintances at the mosque noticed he had “a new group of Arab friends” and had become intensely religious. He grew a beard and dropped out of Salford University, where he had been studying for a business management degree.

His parents became so concerned about his behaviour that last month they moved him and his younger brother, Hashem, to Libya.

Shortly before leaving, he had a run-in with a mosque leader near the family home in Fallowfield.

Abdullah Muhsin Norris, chairman of the Salaam mosque, told him off for staying inside the mosque’s library after dawn prayers without permission. Mr Norris said that during their confrontation Abedi had warned him not to treat him like a child.