Three in court on 'Islamic State' terror offences
Two Kurdish immigrants have appeared in court accused of trying to join so-called Islamic State fighters in Iraq.
Aras Mohammed Hamid, 26, and Shivan Hayder Azeez Zangana, 20, known Aziz, were both allegedly plotting to join the Salahaddin Battalion, a Kurdish group fighting for IS.
The pair appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on Friday.
They were alongside Ahmad Ismail, 18, who is accused of failing to alert authorities to the alleged plot.
Hamid was arrested in the back of a lorry in Dover on May 19, the court was told. Aziz was arrested at a mosque in Birmingham two days earlier.
Hamid, of no fixed address, is charged with preparing an act of terrorism and assisting another to commit terrorist acts, under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
He also faces a charge of possessing a false identity document, a Bulgarian passport, with improper intention.
City centre arrest
Aziz, from Washington Road in Sheffield, is charged with preparing acts of terrorism contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006.
Ismail was arrested at his home in Portwrinkle Avenue, Coventry, on 22 May. He is charged with failing to disclose information to police of an offence involving the preparation of an act of terrorism, under Section 38 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
All three men were remanded in custody and ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on June 23.
In connection with the case, police detained a 33-year-old man in Birmingham city centre on Thursday on suspicion of preparing for terrorist acts contrary to the Terrorism Act 2006.
A fifth man, aged 32, who was arrested in Margate on Friday, remains on police bail.