New Delhi, March 21 -- Two men appeared in a London court on Thursday accused of carrying out "hostile" surveillance last year of the U.K.'s Jewish community on behalf of Iran.

Iranian-British national Nematollah Shahsavani, 40, and 22-year-old Iranian citizen Alireza Farasati are accused of engaging in conduct likely to assist a foreign intelligence service between July 9 and Aug. 15 last year.

Prosecution lawyer Louise Attrill said the defendants "are suspected of assisting the Iranian intelligence service by conducting hostile surveillance of locations and individuals linked to the Israeli and Jewish community."

She told a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court that surveillance targets included the Israeli embassy in London, a J...