A British soldier, Daniel Abed Khalif, has been sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for collecting sensitive information for Iran. This comes after he briefly escaped from prison while awaiting trial, reports "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
Khalif was convicted last November of collecting military and classified information on Iran between 2019 and 2022 and of obtaining information that could be used for terrorist purposes.
He was dismissed from the British army after the charges were brought against him. Khalif also admitted escaping from London's Wandsworth Prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial on the other charges. He strapped himself to the back of a delivery van, sparking a national manhunt before being captured days later.
The 23-year-old Khalif, whose mother was born in Iran, said he felt patriotic and had made contact with Britain's MI6 and MI5 intelligence services about his activities, claiming he wanted to be a "double agent". He also said his family hated the Iranian government.
Despite these claims, Judge Bobby Chima-Grabb told him he had embarked on a "dangerous and fantastic" plan motivated by "selfish desire to show off". The judge sentenced him to 14 years and three months in prison, saying that Khalif had been a model soldier but had transformed into a "dangerous fool".
During his two-year period of contact with Iranian officials, Khalif worked with agents affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also collected information on important military figures and was in contact with secret units of the British armed forces.
After he escaped from prison, the prosecution said that more than 150 police officers were involved in the search for him, which cost the police more than 250,000 pounds ($309,000) in overtime.
Despite the accusations, Khalif claims that the documents he provided to his Iranian superior were not useful because they were publicly available or even created by him.
His lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain, commented that Khalif was not motivated by malice, greed, religious or ideological beliefs, pointing out that if he were truly a spy, he would not have behaved in this way.