Manchester Arena terrorist Hashem Abedi was granted more than £1,200 in taxpayers’ money to launch an equal rights case in jail.
The sum went to his lawyers for a complaint of religious discrimination.
The funding has been added to a huge legal aid bill to fund his trial defence even though he refused to take part in the court process.
Figures disclosed under a Freedom of Information request show the total now stands at £354,015.
Prison bosses also had to instruct their own lawyers before the latest wholly unjustified claim was discontinued.
The legal aid bill has reached £354,015 despite Abedi refusing to participate in his original trial proceedings.
The 28-year-old was jailed in 2020 for a minimum of 55 years for helping his suicide bomber brother Salman kill 22 Ariana Grande fans in 2017.
In 2022, he was given another three years and ten months for attacking two officers at Belmarsh Prison in South East London.
The religious discrimination claim was made before Abedi seriously wounded prison guards in a stabbing and scalding oil attack at HMP Frankland, County Durham, last month.
The religious discrimination claim was discontinued before Abedi’s recent attack on prison guards.
The 28-year-old seriously wounded prison staff in a stabbing and scalding oil attack at HMP Frankland in County Durham last month.
The timing means taxpayers funded the legal challenge despite it ultimately being abandoned.
Prison authorities were forced to instruct their own lawyers to respond to what was described as a wholly unjustified claim before Abedi withdrew it.
Tory Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick condemned the taxpayer funding for the convicted mass killer’s legal costs. “This is just another outrageous example of taxpayers’ money being wasted on a convicted mass killer,” he said.
The criticism highlights concerns over legal aid expenditure on prisoners who have committed the most serious offences.
Abedi’s case demonstrates how convicted terrorists can continue to access public funding for legal challenges even after receiving lengthy sentences for mass murder.
The Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 killed 22 people attending an Ariana Grande concert, making it one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent British history.
https://www.gbnews.com/news/hashem-abedi-manchester-bomber-equal-rights