Two Iranian men charged over alleged Manchester terror plot

Two Iranian men have been charged in the United Kingdom over an alleged terror plot targeting Manchester’s Jewish community, counter-terrorism police and prosecutors said. Rahman Salehi, 35, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, were charged with preparing to commit an act of terrorism or assisting another person to commit an act of terrorism. The men were arrested on September 20, the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

They were detained in Newton Street, in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, and later held at a London police station. Vicki Evans, the senior national coordinator for counter-terrorism policing, said the charges followed a joint investigation with security services. She said police believed the investigation had disrupted a plot targeting Manchester’s Jewish community.

Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said prosecutors had decided there was sufficient evidence to bring the case to court. He stressed that proceedings were active and that the defendants had the right to a fair trial. The Metropolitan Police, which is leading the investigation, said searches had been conducted at properties on Epworth Street in Liverpool and Lancaster Road in Salford.

The men are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 3. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the arrests highlighted threats from terrorists and foreign state actors. She said the timing would be distressing for Jewish communities, particularly in Manchester.

The case follows a previous attack at Heaton Park synagogue during Yom Kippur last year, in which two people were killed and three were injured. The source material did not say that the current defendants were connected to that attack.