2 Iranian men charged over alleged bomb plot to target UK Jewish community appear in court

Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire

Two Iranian men charged with terror offenses over an alleged bomb plot to attack the Jewish community in Manchester, England, appeared in a British court on Saturday.

The suspects – named as Salam Ahmadyan, 36, and Rahman Salehi, 34 – were arrested on September 20, on the eve of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur and almost exactly a year after a terrorist attack at a Manchester synagogue killed two worshippers.

In court on Saturday, prosecutor Mark Luckett alleged that the two men were in contact with an Iranian national, most likely operating from within Iran.

That third party “is alleged to have directed and coordinated the planned attack and provided instructions on how to assemble a homemade explosive device,” Luckett said, according to UK news agency PA Media.

Prosecutors accused the two men of planning and acquiring the elements to make a chlorine bomb as well as using the internet to identify and research potential targets.

Carl Court/Getty Images

The two men allegedly “carried out a hostile reconnaissance within Manchester’s Jewish community, identifying attempted targets such as the Jewish Museum and Heaton Park Synagogue,” Luckett added, referencing the same synagogue hit in the deadly attack last year.

The suspects’ arrest comes after a string of antisemitic attacks this year, including a knife attack in north London and assaults on synagogues and other communal buildings, that have left the country’s Jewish community in a heightened state of fear.

“We continue to see antisemitic sentiment appearing with increasing frequency,” Laurence Taylor, the head of counter-terrorism policing, said Friday in a statement marking a year after the Manchester synagogue attack.

Just days before the Iranian suspects were charged in this case, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham also alleged there were “strong indications” Iran “played a part” in a separate incident which saw six men arrested and bailed over an alleged plot to target a UK airbase used by US forces.

Police emphasized that the foiled attack in Manchester and the incident at the airbase RAF Fairford “are not connected in any way,” even though the week “brought into sharp focus some of the wider threats being projected into the UK from Iran.”

Toby Shepheard/Reuters

Several high-level Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi, have categorically denied their country’s involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford.

The two defendants in the Manchester case spoke in court through interpreters, only to confirm their names, dates of birth and addresses, PA reported.

Both had arrived in the UK via small boats crossing the English Channel, the court heard, according to PA. These small boat crossings, a notoriously dangerous migration route, have become a political flashpoint in recent years. They have driven harder-line immigration policies from both the center-right Conservative and center-left Labour governments, as well as contributing to the rise of the populist hard-right party Reform UK.

Salehi, who was granted asylum in 2023, had been given the right to remain in the country until July 2028, while Ahmadyan has a pending asylum claim, the court heard, according to PA.

Both suspects will be remanded in custody and next appear in court for a hearing on October 23.

CNN’s Hira Humayun contributed reporting.

伊丽莎白·库克/PA Wire

两名伊朗男子因涉嫌策划炸弹袭击英国曼彻斯特的犹太社区而被控犯有恐怖主义罪行，他们于周六在英国一家法院出庭。

嫌疑人萨拉姆·艾哈迈迪安（36岁）和拉赫曼·萨利希（34岁）于9月20日被捕，当时正值犹太节日赎罪日的前夕，距离曼彻斯特一座犹太教堂发生恐怖袭击导致两名信徒丧生几乎整整一年。

周六在法庭上，检察官马克·卢克特声称，这两名男子与一名伊朗国民有联系，该国民很可能在伊朗境内活动。

据英国新闻机构PA Media报道，勒克特表示，该第三方“涉嫌指挥和协调了此次袭击计划，并提供了如何组装自制爆炸装置的说明”。

检方指控这两名男子策划并获取制造氯弹所需的材料，还利用互联网识别和研究潜在目标。

卡尔·考特/盖蒂图片社

据称，这两名男子“在曼彻斯特犹太社区内进行了敌对侦察，确定了诸如犹太博物馆和希顿公园犹太教堂等袭击目标”，勒克特补充道，他指的是去年致命袭击中遇难的同一座犹太教堂。

嫌疑人被捕之前，今年发生了一系列反犹太主义袭击事件，包括伦敦北部的一起持刀袭击事件，以及对犹太教堂和其他公共建筑的袭击，这些事件使该国的犹太社区处于高度恐惧状态。

“我们继续看到反犹太主义情绪越来越频繁地出现，”反恐警察负责人劳伦斯·泰勒周五在一份声明中表示，该声明是为了纪念曼彻斯特犹太教堂袭击事件一周年。

就在伊朗嫌疑人被指控参与此案的几天前，英国首相安迪·伯纳姆还声称有“强烈迹象”表明伊朗“参与”了另一起事件，该事件导致六名男子因涉嫌密谋袭击美军使用的英国空军基地而被捕并获保释。

警方强调，曼彻斯特未遂袭击事件与费尔福德皇家空军基地事件“没有任何关联”，尽管本周“凸显了伊朗向英国投射的一些更广泛的威胁”。

托比·谢泼德/路透社

包括外交部长阿巴斯·阿拉格奇在内的几位伊朗高级官员断然否认伊朗参与了英国皇家空军费尔福德基地发生的事件。

据英国新闻协会报道，曼彻斯特案的两名被告在法庭上通过翻译发言，仅确认了自己的姓名、出生日期和地址。

据英国新闻协会（PA）报道，法庭获悉，两人均乘坐小船穿越英吉利海峡抵达英国。这种小船偷渡路线历来危险重重，近年来已成为政治焦点。它促使中间偏右的保守党和中间偏左的工党政府都采取了更为强硬的移民政策，同时也助长了民粹主义极右翼政党“改革英国”（Reform UK）的崛起。

据英国新闻协会 (PA) 报道，法庭获悉，萨利希于 2023 年获得庇护，并被赋予在该国居留至 2028 年 7 月的权利，而艾哈迈迪安的庇护申请仍在审理中。

两名嫌疑人将被还押候审，下次出庭日期为10月23日。

CNN记者Hira Humayun对此报道亦有贡献。