While there was a lot of confident speculation [as to why the massacre happened] by people who never met Salman Abedi, there is one person who has spoken up who definitely knew Abedi well:
‘Abedi’s sister, Jomana Abedi, said her brother was kind and loving and that she was surprised by what he did this week. She said she thought he was driven by what he saw as injustices. “I think he saw children – Muslim children – dying everywhere, and wanted revenge. He saw the explosives America drops on children in Syria, and he wanted revenge,” she said. “Whether he got that is between him and God.”’
This quote was given to the Wall St Journal and published on 25 May under the headline: ‘Manchester Bomber Believed Muslims Were Mistreated, Sought Revenge’. It’s possible that Jomana Abedi is wrong about what motivated her brother. What is not in doubt is that her explanation (not a justification) remains the single best piece of publicly-available evidence about Salman Abedi’s state of mind when he carried out mass murder at the Manchester Arena. How did the British mainstream media handle this important piece of information about the Manchester attack?
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In this case, what we find is that Jomana Abedi’s evidence has been reported in the British press – and it has also effectively been suppressed. On the face of it, you might have expected this startling and newsworthy story to become part of the conversation about the Manchester attack. Far from it. What we find, repeatedly, is that her statement is often buried at the end of a story; it is noted casually; and it has been mentioned only once or twice most of the elite newspapers.