Former British Soldier Imprisoned For Collecting Sensitive Information For Iran

Illustration. (Pixabay/peterbwiberg)

JAKARTA - The former British soldier was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for gathering sensitive information for Iran to collect the names of special forces personnel, as well as his attempts to escape from prison pending trial.

Daniel Abed Khalife was convicted last November of gathering military and classified information for Iran between 2019 and 2022, obtaining information that may be useful for terrorism.

Khalife, who was dismissed from the armed forces after being charged, also admitted to escaping from Wandsworth prison in London in September 2023 pending trial on another charge.

He tied himself up at the bottom of the delivery car, which sparked nationwide hunting before he was arrested days later.

The 23-year-old man, whose mother was born in Iran, said she was a patriot and had contacted the British MI6 and MI5 intelligence services about her contacts, saying she wanted to be a "double agent". He said he and his family hated the Iranian government.

However, Judge Cheema-Grubb told Khalife he had started his "dangerous and fantastic" plan because of his " selfish desire to show off".

Judge Grubb jailed Khalife at London's Crown Court Woolwich for 14 years and three months, saying the defendant had shown talent as an exemplary soldier but had become a "dangerous stupid person".

The former soldier has contacted Iranian officials and later engaged substantially with several agents linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps over a two-year period, receiving two payments in return, prosecutors said.

Khalife, who joined the army shortly before his 17th birthday, also gathered details about "individuals at the Special Air Service and Special Boat Service as well as the most striking, TT Soldiers, who are in the Squadron E, a very secret unit", prosecutors said.

After Khalife escaped from prison, prosecutors said more than 150 officers were involved in hunting across the country, costing more than 250,000 pounds in police overtime.

Khalife himself argues that the documents he provides to Iran are useless, because they are publicly available, or are documents he made himself.

Khalife's lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain, who compared "007 and hot Doo" in terms of capabilities and actions, said his client was not driven by malicious intent, greed, religious spirit, or ideological belief.

"If he was really a spy, he wouldn't be behaving like that," said Hussain.