A former British soldier has been found guilty of espionage on behalf of Iran. The sentence will be handed down early next year.
The case of Khalife gained global attention in September 2023 when he escaped from Wandsworth prison while under investigation. He fled by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck and evaded capture for three days before being apprehended on the banks of a canal in northwest London.
23-year-old Daniel Khalife is accused of violating the British Official Secrets Act; he has been convicted of collecting and transmitting classified information to Iranian intelligence services.
Prosecutors accused Khalife of a "cynical game": according to the investigation, he provided the Iranian intelligence service with a significant amount of restricted access materials, including the names of special forces officers.
During interrogations, Khalife admitted to maintaining contact with representatives of the Iranian government, claiming that it was all part of a ruse to ultimately work as a double agent for the UK, a scheme he devised after watching the political thriller "Homeland."
"I wanted to use my past to strengthen our national security," Khalife told jurors during the trial. "I thought I could become James Bond or someone like that, like an idiot."
Defense attorneys argued that Khalife's ambitions were naive and foolish.
Judge Bobby Chima-Grubb stated that Khalife faces a "lengthy prison sentence" when his sentence is delivered early next year.
At trial, Khalife pleaded guilty to escape but contested the espionage charges.
He was cleared of charges related to planting fake bombs in a military barracks.
The Amateur's Game
Khalife joined the British Army at 16 and was assigned to the Royal Signals Corps—a communication unit that is part of the combat troops, as well as special forces and intelligence units.
He was told he could not serve in intelligence because his mother is from Iran.
According to prosecutors, at 17, Khalife contacted someone connected to Iranian intelligence and began passing on information. He received NATO security clearance when he participated in joint exercises at Fort Cavazos in Texas in early 2021.
British security services were unaware of Khalife's contacts with Iranians until he approached MI6, the UK’s foreign intelligence service, offering to work as a double agent.
Khalife contacted MI6 anonymously, claiming he had earned the trust of his Iranian handlers, who rewarded him by leaving a bag containing $2,000 cash (1,895 euros) in a park in north London.
He stated that most of the materials he provided to his Iranian handlers were fabricated information or documents available online and did not reveal any secrets of the British Army.
The British police stated that while Khalife's actions were "amateurish" and contained elements of "fantasy," he nonetheless harmed the interests of the UK by providing Iran with "very secret" information.
The prosecution argues that some of the military documents were authentic and used evidence from Khalife's mobile phones, notes he wrote to himself, and surveillance footage to demonstrate that he was collecting and transmitting classified information. They also established that he traveled to Turkey to meet with a contact.
"He sought and obtained copies of secret and sensitive information, knowing that it was protected, and passed it on to individuals he believed were acting on behalf of the Iranian state," said Bethan David from the Crown Prosecution Service. "The transmission of this information could have put military personnel at serious risk and jeopardized the security of the United Kingdom."