- By Daniel De Simone
- Correspondent, BBC News
Mohammed Soliman was detained for eight months after losing his British citizenship, his mother said
A former Manchester Arena bombing suspect had his British citizenship revoked and then returned after MI5 changed its view of his role in the attack, the BBC can reveal.
Mohammed Soliman, 26, was arrested in Libya after being stripped of his citizenship over suspicions he helped prepare the May 2017 attack.
He appealed the decision and said he was mistreated while in detention in Libya.
But the government avoided a court case by returning his citizenship in 2021.
He has always said he did not knowingly help terrorists.
The Home Office declined to answer specific questions about the case, but said the UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism systems in the world.
By not proceeding to a full hearing, the court disregarded Mr. Soliman about the abuse in Libya or how he was detained there, including any role played by British intelligence.
He was detained for eight months, his mother said in a police statement.
The BBC has been told that he was arrested on the basis of information from the United Kingdom.
The information restrictions that prevent Mr. Soliman being named in connection with these events have now been lifted after the BBC wrote to the court, allowing the story to be told for the first time.
Twenty-two people were killed and hundreds injured when Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert.
MI5 has said publicly that its assessment is that no one other than Salman and his brother Hashem Abedi, who is serving a life sentence in prison, were knowingly involved in the bomb plot.
During the first weeks of the police investigation, more than 20 people were arrested.
A key feature of the case soon emerged: the Abedi brothers had asked several friends and relatives to buy the chemicals used to make the bomb.
Soliman, who worked in a takeaway kitchen with Hashem Abedi, was among them.
He bought 10 liters of sulfuric acid, using his own bank details and Amazon account in March 2017.
The chemical was delivered to Mr. Soliman and agents raided the property after the attack.
image source, Family notes
Twenty-two people died in the attack on May 22, 2017
All those questioned about the purchase of the chemicals denied knowledge of the bomb plot and said Hashem Abedi had claimed he needed help buying the products for legitimate reasons. None were charged and some became prosecution witnesses at Hashem Abedi’s trial.
However, Mr Soliman was neither in the UK nor about to return, so police did not question him and did not give his side of the story.
He had left Manchester by plane in April that year, eventually joining his family in Benghazi, Libya.
In July 2017, Home Secretary Amber Rudd withdrew her citizenship. As usual in such cases, he acted on the advice of MI5.
He was arrested by Libyan law enforcement the same month.
Soliman appealed against the withdrawal of his citizenship to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
The government justified his actions by saying that he was an associate of Salman Abedi, who may have known about the bombing in advance and may have helped in its preparation.
The SIAC is a semi-secret court and many of its hearings and rulings are never made public, because they involve sensitive evidence that the government says it cannot release.
Mr. Soliman’s case took place in complete secrecy.
It ended in July 2021 without going to a full hearing. Then-Home Secretary Priti Patel “decided to withdraw the decision” to strip Soliman of his British citizenship, according to the formal document confirming the decision.
In doing so, he was also acting on the advice of MI5, but their advice had changed, with Soliman never being questioned by the British police.
As part of the appeal, Soliman claimed he had been subjected to “detention and ill-treatment” abroad after his citizenship was revoked.
The BBC has been told that his arrest in Libya was ultimately due to information from the UK.
He was not publicly named in the UK in connection with the case until Hashem Abedi’s trial. His arrest in Libya therefore could not have been based on information in the public domain.
It is a controversial issue because British police have not made formal requests for the suspects to be arrested and questioned in Libya, partly because of the possibility of allegations of torture and British complicity.
Hashem Abedi was arrested in Libya the day after the arena attack, after his brother was named as a terrorist. British authorities have denied requesting his arrest. He was transferred to the UK in 2019 and later claimed he had been tortured during interrogation in Libya.
His lawyers included those claims in an unsuccessful attempt to stop his trial in 2020.
The families of two victims told the BBC how police said that if Mohammed Soliman had been in the UK, he would have been tried alongside Hashem Abedi.
Hashem Abedi was convicted of the murder of 22 people
Caroline Curry from South Shields, whose 19-year-old son Liam was killed, said at the time of the trial a senior detective had claimed Soliman “would have stood by her on 22 counts of murder”. .
Liam died alongside girlfriend Chloe Rutherford, 17, whose family say they were told the same thing.
Both families believe detectives believed he would not return and that the claims would not be tested. In fact, a charging decision had never been made.
After restoring the citizenship of Mr. Soliman, returned to Britain in October 2021 and was arrested on arrival.
He answered detectives’ questions and denied knowing anything about the bomb plot.
In a witness statement, Soliman said Hashem Abedi had pressured him to allow him to use his bank card, saying he needed it to buy car engine oil.
“I did not know and did not suspect that Hashem and/or Salman planned to attack any place or person or carry out any form of terrorist attack,” their statement said.
Soliman also said that his flight from Manchester had been planned before Hashem bought the sulfuric acid and that he would eventually go to Libya, where he was to enroll in university.
Police told him he would not be charged with a crime and would face no further action.
The BBC tried to contact Soliman for comment but has not received a response.
Greater Manchester Police declined to comment.
The Home Office said: “The government, working with our world-class police and security and intelligence agencies, will always take the strongest possible action to protect national security and public safety.”
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