Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi has denied attempting to murder three prison guards, and told a judge he does want to attend his trial.
The 28-year-old is accused of attacking guards at maximum security jail HMP Frankland with homemade weapons and hot oil.
Abedi – now being held at HMP Belmarsh – was handcuffed as he appeared at the Old Bailey through a videolink from the jail on Friday for a plea hearing.
Representing himself, he pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempted murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a fourth guard, and he also denied a charge of possessing offensive weapons within a prison.
When Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb asked the defendant if he wanted to be represented by a lawyer, Abedi replied: “I don’t want to attend anyway, that’s what it is.”
Later in the hearing, Abedi who was surrounded by guards wearing body armour and protective helmets, said he had been forced to attend the court hearing.
“You say that I must attend...I’ve been told if I don’t attend I’m to be forced to attend, like for example today”, he told the judge.
The judge replied: “It’s a matter for the prison authorities how to get you to the place where you need to be”, and indicated that she had ordered his attendance today as well as at a hearing in January next year.
The judge set out that documents about the case have been sent to Abedi in prison, including a summary of the evidence he faces and a timetable from the preparation of his trial.
“This case concerns an incident on April 12 at HMP Frankland where Mr Abedi was being detained”, said prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC.
“During the course of a session where he was permitted to use cooking equipment, he attacked and attempted to murder three prison officers using hot oil and offensive weapons – makeshift knives – he had constructed himself.”
The court heard the prosecution allege the incident was connected to terrorism.
Abedi was convicted of assisting with the Manchester terror plot, in which his brother, suicide bomber Salman Abedi, killed 22 people by detonating a homemade rucksack bomb among a crowd of concert-goers.
He was jailed for life with a 55-year minimum term in August 2020.
Abedi’s attempted murder trial, which will be overseen by a High Court Judge, is set to start on January 18, 2027.
A further pre-trial hearing has been set for January 30, 2026.
