NEW YORK (AP) — A man jailed on terrorism charges in New York was able to pass secret messages to Iranian operatives planning an attack on a British airbase used by the U.S. Air Force, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The new indictment offers fresh insight into an episode shrouded in mystery since Sept. 27, when a group of men were detained on suspected explosives and terrorism offenses after three suspicious vans were spotted traveling toward the air base where U.S. bombers were stationed.
The new charges accuse Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, a dual Iranian-Iraqi national jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, of a role in plotting to attack the Royal Air Force Base in Fairford, in western England, even though he'd been arrested last spring.
According to prosecutors, al-Saadi used coded language in phone and video calls to his mother and sister in Iraq to pass messages encouraging associates to carry out the air base bombing.
Two other men have been charged in the case, which accuses Iran-backed operatives of plotting nearly 20 terror strikes on Jewish communities in Europe and the U.S.
Neither of those men, Mohsen Mohajeri, an Iranian national, and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani, an Iraqi national, are in U.S. custody.
US attorney says men sought to unleash a ‘campaign of terror’
“These defendants helped orchestrate a campaign of terror on behalf of terrorist organizations affiliated with Iran that targeted Jewish communities in Europe and the United States, and the British military base, RAF Fairford, housing American service members,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. "The threat presented by Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups to America and our allies is not hypothetical — it is very real.”
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.”
Six men initially arrested in the United Kingdom in connection with the incident at the RAF base in Fairford were all released on bail, but two were later re-arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service and were charged under the National Security Act, British authorities said.
British authorities linked the incident to Tehran, and though Iran denied involvement, the arrests prompted the U.S. to withdraw its bombers that had been stationed there. The bombers were redeployed to the United States.
RAF Fairford, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, has been used by American bombers during decades of conflicts in the Middle East.
Man accused of fueling plots from jail with coded messages
U.S. prosecutors said in the indictment that while speaking to his family from the Brooklyn jail, al-Saadi told them he owed money to Mohajeri and directed them to pass messages to him about “work," a term al-Saadi used to describe terrorist activity.
“What are they doing about all our old work?” al-Saadi asked his sister on a July 30 call, according to the indictment. It said he asked her whether it had been cancelled or just put on pause, to which she responded that “it isn’t cancelled."
On a Sept. 24 call, al-Saadi asked about al-Hassani, whom he was told had been transferred to the “International Section,” and instructed his family to “give him money so we can do it,” it said.
Since his May arrest, al-Saadi had been held in solitary confinement. The Justice Department said he was dangerous because of his desire to attack U.S. and Israeli interests.
New charges come amid court battle over al-Saadi's phone access
Al-Saadi was permitted phone and video calls with his family, but each call was monitored and recorded by the FBI, according to court filings.
In September, al-Saadi’s lawyer complained that some of his calls were repeatedly interrupted and cut off without explanation. Citing concerns that he was using coded language, including “work” and “a job,” the government later said it was limiting him just to a single hourlong call each month.
Still, from June through September, al-Saadi participated in nine phone or video teleconference calls from jail, according to a court filing by prosecutors. In one, al-Saadi's mother told him to stop talking about a topic because “they may end the call,” according to a court filing that said the FBI then terminated the call.
The indictment alleged the three men conspired together to use a network of contacts in the United Kingdom to commit terror attacks on behalf of an Iran-aligned terrorist network, which included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Kata’ib Hizballah.
In one instance in mid-April, the indictment said, al-Saadi, al-Hassani and Mohajeri directed an individual to carry out an arson attack on a Jewish charity organization in London in real time as they watched it on video that was projected from a laptop computer onto a large screen. The next day, they directed another attack on a synagogue in London, with al-Hassani directing the individual to “light it up like a Christmas tree,” the indictment said.
In June, al-Saadi pleaded not guilty to charges that he plotted at least 18 attacks in Europe in retaliation for the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran. He called himself a “prisoner of war.” He has been held without bail since. His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Both Kata’ib Hizballah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have been designated by the U.S. government as foreign terrorist organizations. U.S. prosecutors say Al-Saadi was a Kata’ib Hizballah commander.
Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington also contributed.
