Former British Soldier Sentenced to 14 Years for Spying for Iran, Prison Escape

Daniel Khalife, a 23-year-old former British soldier, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being convicted of spying for Iran and escaping from custody while awaiting trial, Al Jazeera reports.

The sentence was handed down on Monday by a judge at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.

Khalife was found guilty in November on charges of espionage, terrorism, and escaping prison. The judge, Cheema-Grubb, described Khalife’s actions as a “dangerous and fantastical plan” to pass sensitive information to Iranian intelligence in exchange for cash.

During his trial, the court heard that Khalife, whose mother is Iranian, spent two and a half years gathering information while stationed in the UK and the United States. This information included the names of elite special forces personnel. He was arrested and charged in 2023.

Prosecutors accused Khalife of playing a “cynical game,” establishing contact with an individual linked to Iranian intelligence shortly after joining the British army. Khalife claimed he was a patriot and had contacted both MI6 and MI5 to offer his services as a “double agent,” emphasizing that he and his family harbored animosity towards the Iranian government. He was subsequently discharged from the armed forces following his arrest.

In addition to the espionage charges, Khalife also admitted to escaping from Wandsworth Prison in London in September 2023. He famously attached himself to the underside of a delivery van, triggering a nationwide manhunt that lasted several days before his eventual recapture.

The court also saw evidence of Khalife’s Iranian heritage being exploited to gain trust with his contacts. Jurors were shown a photograph found on Khalife’s phone containing a handwritten list of 15 soldiers, including their service number, rank, initials, surname and unit.

Judge Cheema-Grubb emphasized the significance of the information regarding special forces personnel, stating that providing it to an enemy state would “very substantially increased the risk to them and to their operational effectiveness.”

Furthermore, evidence presented at trial showed that Khalife remained in contact with Iranian handlers while stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, between February and April 2021. During this period, he held the second-highest level of NATO security clearance, just below “cosmic top secret.”

Authorities also revealed that Khalife traveled to Turkiye to meet with his Iranian contacts, where he allegedly received payments in exchange for information on two separate occasions.

While Khalife argued that the documents he passed to his Iranian handler were either publicly available or fabricated by himself, his defense lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain, attempted to portray him as less of a sophisticated spy and more akin to a “Scooby Doo” character. Hussain argued that his client’s actions were not driven by malice, greed, religious fervor, or ideological conviction.