British prosecutors on Wednesday charged a British-Iranian man with setting fire to a memorial wall dedicated to victims of Iran’s regime, in what police described as part of efforts to stop a series of arson attacks targeting London’s Jewish community and Iranian dissidents.
Ali Reza Fallahi, 45, from Ilford in East London, is due to appear before Westminster Magistrate’s Court on June 18, the Metropolitan Police said. He and an alleged accomplice were arrested last month.
“This charge marks another step forward in one of the investigations into the series of arson attacks targeting the Jewish community and Iranian diaspora in London,” Commander Helen Flanagan, head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said in a statement. “We are determined to bring everyone involved in these incidents to justice.”
The wall allegedly targeted by Fallahi displayed photographs of individuals believed to have been killed by the Iranian regime.
The fire broke out on April 27, according to police, who received a report of the incident later the same day.
A 38-year-old woman arrested in connection with the memorial wall fire has been released without further action, police said.
The April 27 incident followed a series of attacks targeting Jewish-linked sites in the Golders Green area, where the memorial wall is located. British police increased their presence in the neighborhood and other heavily Jewish areas of the capital after four ambulances belonging to the Hatzola Northwest Jewish group were set on fire in Golders Green on March 23.
Tensions escalated further after two Jewish men were stabbed in the same neighborhood on April 29, raising concerns about community safety.
