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Two Iranian nationals were charged on Friday with preparing terrorist acts targeting the same Manchester synagogue where two worshipers were killed in an Islamist attack a year earlier.
Prosecutor Mark Luckett said they took direction from a third person believed to be in Iran, who coordinated their preparations and supplied instructions for assembling a homemade chlorine bomb.
Rahman Salehi, 34, and Salam Ahmadyan, 36, obtained materials to build the bomb and researched possible attacks on Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation and the Jewish Museum in nearby Cheetham Hill, the court heard.
Salehi and Ahmadyan were arrested Sept. 20, as Yom Kippur began. They are accused of conducting “hostile” surveillance of Jewish sites at the time, though it is not clear whether any attack was planned for the holiday itself.
Neither man entered a plea at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Judge Nina Tempia remanded both in custody until an Oct. 23 hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court.
On Yom Kippur last year, a British-Syrian man drove his car into the synagogue’s front gate during services. He fatally stabbed one congregant and tried to force his way inside before police officers killed him. A second congregant died after being accidentally hit by police fire.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Salehi and Ahmadyan reached Britain from Europe by small boat several years ago. Her ministry said one has received asylum and the other’s claim was pending.
“It is no secret that this country faces a range of serious threats from the Iranian regime,” Mahmood said. “They target our Jewish communities and try to silence their critics overseas, often through proxies and criminal networks to hide their involvement.”
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