Source : Perth Now news
Four young men have pleaded guilty to charges over an arson attack on community ambulances in London, the first of a spate of incidents targeting the capital’s Jewish community earlier this year.
Hamza Iqbal, 20, Rehan Khan, 19, Judex Atshatshi, 18, and Saif Ali, 18, appeared at London’s Old Bailey court and admitted a charge of destroying or damaging property being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.
The charges relate to the torching of four ambulances belonging to Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola on March 23 while they were parked near a synagogue in Golders Green, north London, which prosecutors said cost about a million pounds ($A1.9 million) in total.
Hatzola is a not-for-profit volunteer emergency service that works alongside the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and primarily serves the Orthodox Jewish community.
Pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya (HAYI) claimed responsibility for the ambulance attack, which was followed by several other arson incidents in London.
A synagogue and a former synagogue were targeted, as was Persian-language media organisation Iran International and a memorial wall dedicated to people killed in Iran.
UK police said at the time that they were investigating possible Iranian links to those arson attacks, with HAYI also having claimed responsibility for some of them.
The Iranian embassy in the UK has said it “categorically rejects” allegations of involvement in “violent activities or incidents in the United Kingdom”.
Prosecutors said at a previous hearing that web searches for “how much do ambulances cost” and “how long does it take for police to (investigate) arsons” were found on Iqbal’s phone after his arrest.
A fifth defendant, 18-year-old Subhan Ahmed, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assisting an offender relating to the disposal of a vehicle used in the incident.
He is expected to stand trial next year.
with AP and PA
