A former British soldier has been sentenced to over 14 years in prison for collecting sensitive information for Iran and compiling the names of special forces personnel before briefly escaping from custody while awaiting trial.
Daniel Abed Khalife was found guilty last November of gathering military and classified information for Iran from 2019 to 2022 and of obtaining information that could be useful for terrorism.
Khalife, who was discharged from the British Army following his charges, also admitted to escaping from London’s Wandsworth Prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial for the other offenses.
He managed to hide himself underneath a delivery van, prompting a nationwide manhunt before he was apprehended days later.
He claimed that both he and his family despised the Iranian government.
The manhunt for Khalife following his escape from Wandsworth Prison incurred costs exceeding £250,000.
Nonetheless, Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb informed him that he had embarked on his “dangerous and fantastical” scheme out of a “selfish desire to show off”.
She sentenced him at London’s Woolwich Crown Court to 14 years and three months, stating that he exhibited the potential of an exemplary soldier but ultimately became a “dangerous fool”.
The former soldier made contacts with Iranian officials and had significant involvement with several agents affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over a two-year timeframe, receiving two payments in return, according to prosecutors.
‘007 and Scooby Doo’
Khalife, who enlisted in the army just before turning seventeen, also gathered details about “individuals in the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service – notably, Soldier TT, who was part of E Squadron, a particularly secretive unit”, the prosecution indicated.
Following his escape from prison, prosecutors reported that more than 150 officers participated in the nationwide manhunt, costing over £250,000 (€300,000) in police overtime.
Khalife contended that the documents he handed to his Iranian handler were of no value, as they were either publicly accessible or created by him.
His attorney, Gul Nawaz Hussain, contrasted Khalife’s abilities and actions with “007 and Scooby Doo”, claiming that he was not motivated by malice, greed, religious zeal, or ideological beliefs.
“Had he been a genuine spy, he would not have acted as he did,” Mr. Hussain stated.
