LONDON (AP) — A former British soldier whose audacious escape from a London prison spurred a dayslong search was convicted on Thursday of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service.
Daniel Khalife, 23, was found guilty by a jury in Woolwich Crown Court on violations of Britain's Official Secrets Act by collecting information useful to an enemy — Iran. He was cleared of a charge of planting fake bombs in his military barracks.
Prosecutors said Khalife played a “cynical game” by claiming he wanted to be a spy after he had delivered a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran, including the names of special forces officers.
Khalife testified that he had been in touch with people in the Iranian government but that it was all part of a ploy to ultimately work as a double-agent for Britain, a scheme he said he got from watching the TV show “Homeland.”
The former soldier snuck out of a London prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial on the spying charges. Hespent three days on the run and was ultimately nabbed on a canal path.
Brian Melley, The Associated Press
