UK prosecutors charge two after RAF Fairford incident

British prosecutors say they ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠have charged two men with ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌offences under the National Security Act following an incident ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠in September ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠at RAF Fairford, an ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠airbase in England used ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠the United States.

British Iranian dual national Mohmed Abdulkarim and British citizen Nouman Essghir, both aged 24, were charged under the National Security Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said. They are due to appear in court later on Tuesday.

Abdulkarim is charged with engaging in conduct that was likely ‌to materially assist a foreign intelligence service. Assistant Commissioner Laurence ‌‌‌‌Taylor, head of the United Kingdom’s Counter Terrorism Policing, said police believed ‌‌‌‌the country ‌‌‌‌Abdulkarim was assisting was Iran.

Essghir was charged with entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the UK.

Both men live in Westminster, a district in London.

The airbase in Gloucestershire, southwestern England, had been used by US bombers to carry out attacks on Iran this year.

Essghir was arrested outside the base on September 27, when armed police officers and army bomb-disposal experts swarmed the rural area. Dozens of residents were evacuated from their homes as police and experts searched for explosives.

Abdulkarim was arrested in the past week. Six other men remain on bail, all living in London and aged between 23 and 25, as investigations continue.

Shortly after the incident at the base, US B-1 bombers were withdrawn from the site.

“We have seen a range of incidents in recent months that we believe have been directed by the Iranian state and, as the Director General of MI5 said just ‌the other week, we are working together to intervene, identify and respond to that threat,” Taylor said in a ⁠statement.

Al Jazeera’s Camille Nedelec, reporting from London, said police initially commented that they were considering all avenues and that they were not ruling out a state actor.

“But at the time, they didn’t go so far as to point towards Iran – although US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Andy Burnham were fairly quick to say they believed that there was credible evidence to suggest Iran was involved,” she said.

“It’s only in the past few days that police who have been in charge of this investigation have increasingly said they believe there is evidence that Iran is involved,” she added.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham last week said the activity at RAF Fairford was likely to have been coordinated in Iran, which Iran’s ambassador to the UK has denied.

Last year, the UK said there had been 20 credible Iranian-backed threats to kill or kidnap individuals based in the UK.

In July, Britain used new powers to ban support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a linked group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), which had claimed responsibility for seven attacks earlier this year at locations linked to Jewish and Israeli communities and Persian-language media.