Three men have been charged with conspiring to damage the home of the publisher of a controversial book about the prophet Muhammad.

Ali Beheshti, 40, Abrar Mirza, 22 and Abbas Taj, 30, will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Friday, the Metropolitan Police said.

Unemployed Beheshti, of Tavistock Gardens, Ilford, east London, was also charged with possession of a weapon designed or adapted for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas contrary to the Firearms Act.

The three are said to have planned to vandalise the home and office of Martin Rynja in Lonsdale Square, Islington, north London.

Mr Rynja is the director of Gibson Square, an independent publishing house which announced earlier this month it was planning to release The Jewel of Medina in the UK.

The historical novel focuses on the relationship between the Islamic prophet and his wife Aisha.

The book, by American author Sherry Jones, was withdrawn from shelves in Serbia after protests from local Islamic leaders.

Random House cancelled publication of the book in the US, saying it had heard from "credible and unrelated sources" that the work "could incite acts of violence".

Salman Rushdie, whose 1989 novel The Satanic Verses prompted the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a death decree, said earlier this month that Random House had allowed itself to be intimidated over The Jewel of Medina in the US.

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