Justice Department Charges 3 Men in Alleged Terror Plots at Jewish Sites and a U.K. Air Base
An eight-count superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges a campaign of attacks in Europe and the United States and a September plot at RAF Fairford.
The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday unsealed an eight-count superseding indictment charging three men with terrorism-related offenses, alleging their involvement in nearly 20 attacks and attempted attacks in Europe and the United States and in a September plot at Royal Air Force Base Fairford in England, where American forces were stationed.
The defendants named in the Justice Department announcement are Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, described as a dual Iranian-Iraqi national; Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national; and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national. Prosecutors allege they acted in support of Kata'ib Hizballah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, both designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations. An indictment is an accusation. The Justice Department's release states that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Fox News and the New York Post also reported the unsealing Tuesday. The New York Post said it was unclear Tuesday afternoon whether Mohajeri and al-Hassani were in custody. The Justice Department said al-Saadi has been in federal custody since being arrested abroad in May and transferred to the United States.
What prosecutors say happened at RAF Fairford
According to the Justice Department and Fox News, prosecutors allege that al-Hassani, then in Iran, directed associates in the United Kingdom to conduct surveillance of RAF Fairford in August, including paid video of the base perimeter. They say those associates later obtained vans and barrels of fuel, researched chemical accelerants, including large quantities of potassium chloride, and bought metallic objects that could be used as shrapnel. The vans, the government alleges, were given commercial decals to resemble a fuel-delivery business and a swimming-pool supply business.
The same accounts say that on Sept. 26, al-Hassani allegedly directed associates to drive three vans toward the base, that at least two encountered a security roadblock, and that British authorities recovered the vehicles and arrested their occupants in the early hours of Sept. 27. The Justice Department says al-Hassani and Mohajeri were in Iran at the time of the attempted plot and relied on contacts in the United Kingdom.
Prosecutors allege that al-Saadi, already jailed in New York and awaiting trial on earlier terrorism charges, tried to coordinate with the others from custody by passing coded messages through family members. The Justice Department and Fox News both quote prosecutors as saying that on a Sept. 24 family call, al-Saadi inquired about al-Hassani and instructed relatives to "give him [al-Hassani] money so we can do it."
The earlier alleged campaign, and the charges
The Justice Department says al-Saadi was charged in May for, among other allegations, planning and promoting approximately 18 terrorist attacks in Europe and attempting to bomb a synagogue in New York. It says those European attacks were claimed in the name of a group prosecutors describe as a front, and that seven of the 18 took place in the United Kingdom, including a near-fatal stabbing in London of two Jewish men, one of them a dual U.S.-British citizen. Fox News likewise reported that the earlier attacks targeted synagogues and Jewish organizations and included the London stabbing.
The department alleges the three men helped plan many of those attacks and that some were directed in real time over video. Those remain allegations to be tested in court. In a statement carried by the Justice Department and Fox News, Attorney General Todd Blanche said, "Anyone who plans a terrorist plot on a military base housing American servicemembers will be prosecuted by the United States government."
The indictment includes conspiracy counts for providing material support to designated terrorist organizations, financing terrorism and conspiracy to bomb a place of public use. Some charges carry a maximum of life in prison, the department said. The New York Post reported that al-Saadi has pleaded not guilty. American personnel were stationed at the British base, a fact that sits beside the country's obligation to honor those who serve, including in Why Veterans Day Stays on Nov. 11, and Why Its History Includes Prayer. Give Thanks Without Making an Idol.
Opinion: Charges are not a verdict, and targeting Jews or troops is still evil
A free country prosecutes with evidence, not headlines. These men are entitled to a defense and to the presumption of innocence. That is not a courtesy to terrorism. It is how just government is supposed to work when the stakes include liberty and, on some counts, a possible life sentence.
If the government proves what it has alleged, the picture is grave: a campaign aimed at Jewish civilians, synagogues and a base housing American airmen, with messages supposedly passed through a jail telephone. Hatred of Jews is a sin and a public danger. So is the murder of soldiers. Neither becomes less serious because it is mixed with geopolitics or because an indictment is only the start of a case.
Officials should say clearly what they can prove, protect Jewish communities and American forces, and fix any real failure that would allow a defendant already in custody to steer a plot. The public should wait for the proof in court. Prayer for the injured, for troops overseas and for wisdom in the people who must judge this case is in order. Vengeance dressed up as patriotism is not.
