Two men and a teenager are to go on trial over an alleged attempt to firebomb the offices of the Iran International television station in London.
An “ignited container” was thrown at the site in the Wembley area of the UK capital around 8.30pm on April 15, landing in a car park where the fire immediately went out.
Oisin McGuinness, 21, Nathan Dunn, 19, and a 16-year-old male, all of whom are British citizens, are charged with arson with intent to endanger life.
Mr McGuinness is also charged with dangerous driving, alleged to have taken place in north-west London on the same date.
All three accused appeared by video-link at the Old Bailey court on Friday for a preliminary hearing before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb and spoke only to confirm their identities.
The senior judge set a provisional three-week trial at the Old Bailey from January 25 next year before Judge Mark Lucraft KC. Before that there will be a hearing for them to enter a plea on August 28.
The offices of Volant Media, the parent company of Iran International, were allegedly targeted. There were no injuries and the three accused left the area in a black four-wheel-drive vehicle, police said. A number of nearby buildings were evacuated as a precaution but police assessed there was no wider risk.
Mr McGuinness and Mr Dunn, of Watford, Hertfordshire, were remanded into custody, and the youth, who cannot be identified, was remanded into local authority care.
Police have been investigating several attacks that have taken place in London with responsibility claimed by a new group calling itself Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamia, which translates as the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand. It is also known as Ashab Al Yamin.
The group is widely believed by experts to be a front for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and part of Tehran’s efforts to sow division in Europe.
After synagogues in Belgium were firebombed and Jewish targets in the Netherlands were attacked, it would appear the focus of Ashab Al Yamin’s activities is centred on the UK.
Since an attack on ambulances run by the Jewish charity Hatzola in Golders Green on March 23, counter-terrorism police have made 28 arrests linked to various similar incidents in the UK.
