Belgian Federal Police, AFP file picture| The men have been charged with providing Brussels and Paris attacks suspect Abrini with thousands of euros

Two people appeared in court in London on Friday accused of giving thousands of pounds to Brussels and Paris attacks suspect Mohamed Abrini when he was in Britain last summer.

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Briton Mohammed Ali Ahmed, 26, and Belgian citizen Zakaria Boufassil, 26, both from Birmingham in central England, are charged with giving £3,000 ($4,400, 3,800 euros) to Abrini.

Abrini has confessed to being "the man in the hat" caught on video with suicide bombers at Brussels airport on March 22, before coordinated attacks that left 32 people dead.

He has also been charged in relation to the November attacks in Paris, that left 130 people dead.

Ahmed and Boufassil are accused of meeting with Abrini in Birmingham in July 2015 and giving him the money.

The formal charge is that they made available funds that they had reasonable cause to suspect would or may be used for the purposes of terrorism.

Both men appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Friday morning after being charged on Thursday.

Also in the dock was Boufassil's sister, Soumaya, who is accused along with Ahmed of accruing money with the intention of committing acts of terrorism or assisting another to commit such acts.

All three were arrested earlier this month.

(AFP)

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