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A former British soldier is accused of collecting sensitive military information and passing it on to Iran, including the names of soldiers in special forces, according to a trial at Woolwich Crown Court. Daniel Khalife, 23, allegedly took a photo of a handwritten list of 15 soldiers, some of whom were serving in the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS), and gathered information from an internal spreadsheet of promotions in June 2021. He later logged onto an internal HR system to find out the soldiers’ first names, jurors heard. Khalife is also accused of escaping from Wandsworth Prison last year by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery truck.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood said Khalife was a “resourceful man” who had offered to work for the Iranians for more than 25 years. By August 2020, Khalife was messaging someone saved in his phone as “David Smith”, describing an internal military system which would identify service personnel. He told the contact “I won’t leave the military until you tell me to”, before adding: “25+ years.”
The prosecution also alleged that Khalife travelled to Istanbul in August 2020 with the intention of travelling on to Iran for a meeting, but he just remained in the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel. Mr Heywood said Khalife was not “merely a young soldier” but someone who was “clearly researching and gathering and recording information”.
Khalife grew up in Kingston, south-west London, with his Iranian-born mother, and joined the army two weeks before his 17th birthday. The prosecution said that Khalife has an ambition to work in military intelligence or for an elite signals unit. In his first police interview in January 2022, he said that he had been informed by an officer that his ancestry meant he was unlikely to qualify for the high-level security vetting called “Developed Vetting”, which would allow him to work in sensitive roles.
The trial is expected to continue for six weeks. Khalife denies all the charges against him
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