Two men charged over incident near RAF Fairford airbase

Charges under the National Security Act

On 27 October, the British Crown Prosecution Service charged two 24-year-old men in connection with an incident near RAF Fairford airbase in Gloucestershire, BBC News reports. Mohmed Abdulkarim is charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service, while Nouman Essghir is charged with entering a prohibited place for purposes prejudicial to the United Kingdom, under Section 4 of the National Security Act 2023. According to Deutsche Welle, both are London residents, and Essghir's alleged actions date to 22 August. Both were due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The Iranian version of the investigation and the fate of the other detainees

Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Laurence Taylor said that, in the investigators' view, the country Abdulkarim assisted is Iran. According to The National, Essghir is a Briton from Westminster, initially detained near the base on 27 September and re-arrested on 20 October. A 25-year-old British-Iranian dual national, also re-arrested on 20 October, has been released without charge but remains under police bail from his initial arrest on 1 October on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts. In total, eight people have been arrested in the case; six, including four Londoners detained near the base on 27 September, remain on bail. CPS chief prosecutor Frank Ferguson said the service had decided to prosecute two individuals and would continue work on the 'complex investigation'.

What happened on 27 September and the consequences for the base

The incident began with a report of three suspicious vehicles near the US-used base early in the morning of 27 September: armed police detained five men, a major incident was declared, dozens of residents were evacuated, and bomb disposal experts examined the area for explosives. As Deutsche Welle notes, shortly after the arrests the United States withdrew its bombers from Fairford on security grounds — the base from which American forces carried out strikes on Iran. Police consider Iranian involvement 'highly likely'; Taylor said that, in the police's view, Iran stands behind a series of incidents in recent months, and that the service is working with MI5. Iran denies involvement, although it previously stated that it considers bases used for attacks on its territory legitimate targets.