Three terrorists convicted of attacking prison officer

Three terrorism inmates have been convicted of attacking a prison officer inside Belmarsh.

Hashem Abedi, 24, Ahmed Hassan, 22, and Muhammed Saeed, 23, attacked the victim inside his office within the Category A unit, which houses the highest security prisoners.

The inmates had been returning to their cells after their daily exercise when they saw the victim sitting alone with his back to them in his office on 11 May 2020. They stormed into his office and attacked him. Abedi swung at the victim’s head with a swivel office chair before the three of them gathered around kicking and punching the victim’s head, legs, torso and back as he was on the floor.

The violence only came to an end when other prison staff came rushing to their colleague’s aid.

The victim was left dazed, bloodied and bruised with a cut to his head and significant ongoing auditory issues in one ear.

Today Abedi, Hassan and Saeed were each found guilty at Woolwich Crown Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Abedi was also found guilty of one count of assaulting an emergency worker.

They were each sentenced today. Abedi received three years and 10 months. Saeed and Hassan were both sentenced to three years' imprisonment each. They will serve these sentences consecutively to the sentences they are already serving.

Thomas Short, from the CPS, said: “This was a frenzied attack on a member of prison staff. The victim feared he would be beaten to death inside his own office.

"Together Hashem Abedi, Ahmed Hassan and Muhammed Saeed took the opportunity to carry out a pre-meditated and unprovoked attack on a lone victim.

"The prosecution case was strong and included witness evidence, medical evidence and CCTV footage from moments before the attack which made clear exactly who the perpetrators were.

"Violent assaults against prison staff are unacceptable. The CPS will not tolerate such attacks against critical workers who are simply doing their jobs and will seek to prosecute offenders where there is enough evidence to do so."