Court docket says Khalife, who beforehand escaped from jail, handed info to ‘enemy state’ for greater than two years.
A former British soldier who sparked a manhunt after escaping from jail earlier than his trial has been sentenced by a court docket in the UK to 14 years for spying for Iran.
A decide at Woolwich Crown Court docket in southeast London mentioned on Monday that Daniel Khalife, 23, had launched into a “harmful and fantastical plan” that concerned passing delicate info to Iranian intelligence for money.
Khalife was convicted in November of espionage and “terrorism” prices in addition to for escaping jail in 2023.
The ex-soldier, whose mom is Iranian, gathered info over a two-and-a-half-year interval whereas posted within the UK and United States, together with the names of elite particular forces personnel, earlier than being arrested and charged in 2023.
“The mere truth that you simply began on this harmful and fantastical plan demonstrates your immaturity and lack of knowledge,” mentioned Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb.
Prosecutors accused Khalife of taking part in a “cynical sport”, getting in touch with a person linked to Iranian intelligence after becoming a member of the British military.
Khalife had mentioned he was a patriot and had contacted each the UK’s MI6 and MI5 intelligence companies about his contacts, saying he needed to be a “double agent”. He had mentioned he and his household hated the Iranian authorities.
He was discharged from the armed forces after he was charged.
Khalife additionally admitted escaping from London’s Wandsworth Jail in September 2023 whereas awaiting trial for the opposite prices. He tied himself to the underside of a supply van, sparking a nationwide manhunt earlier than he was caught days later.
The previous soldier, who grew up in southwest London, joined the military in 2018 aged 16.
Cheema-Grubb mentioned she had “little doubt” that Khalife used his Iranian heritage to realize the belief of his contacts.
Through the trial, jurors had been proven {a photograph} from Khalife’s cellphone of a handwritten record he had product of 15 troopers, together with their service quantity, rank, initials, surname and unit.
The main points of particular forces personnel was “undoubtedly worthwhile, and giving them to an enemy state would have very considerably elevated the chance to them and to their operational effectiveness”, the decide mentioned.
Khalife allegedly remained in touch with Iranian handlers whereas posted to Fort Hood, Texas within the US between February and April 2021, when he was given the second-highest degree of NATO safety clearance, one beneath “cosmic high secret”.
He additionally travelled to Turkiye to satisfy his Iranian handlers, and twice collected cash in trade for info, in keeping with authorities.
Khalife argued the paperwork he handed to his Iranian handler had been ineffective, being both publicly obtainable, or ones he created himself.
His lawyer Gul Nawaz Hussain, who drew a distinction between “007 and Scooby Doo” by way of Khalife’s potential and actions, mentioned that he was not pushed by malice, greed, non secular fervour or ideological conviction.
“Had he been a real spy, he wouldn’t have behaved as he did,” Hussain mentioned.
