Khalife sentenced to more than 14 years in prison
Daniel Khalife has been sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison.
There is no reaction from Khalife, 23, who simply looks down as the judge confirms his fate.
“Thank you, go down,” Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb says as the proceedings come to an end.
Khalife ‘betrayed the country and exposed others to possible harm’
As the judge sets out her thoughts on Khalife’s motivation, she says he had a “dangerous and fantastical plan” that showed his “immaturity and lack of wisdom”.
She says he was an “unauthorised, unqualified and uninformed junior solider” and failed to understand “at the most obvious level” the risk he posed.
“You put yourself in danger too because if you had not been caught and dismissed from the army, you would have been a blackmail risk for the entirety of your career,” she adds.
“However, the greater mischief for your offending is that having to engage any response from the intelligence services of the United Kingdom, you continued betraying your country and exposed others to the possibility of harm.”
She says that the full extent of the actual and potential harm caused by Khalife is “unascertainable”.
The judge adds that there was a “serious risk” to some individuals if the information obtained by Khalife was shared with an enemy state.
“Overall, I conclude that the level of harm in your case is of a moderate or high degree,” the judge says.
“You are motivated by a personal grievance to betray your colleagues and superiors. Your conduct was premeditated and continued for over two years.”
‘Narcissistic’ Khalife escaped prison ‘because he thought he could’
We’re now onto Khalife’s prison escape, which the judge does not believe was driven by fear for his safety.
“The truth is, you did it because you thought you could,” Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb tells him.
“You later boasted that as a soldier, you were trained to escape.”
She addresses part of the defence’s case that argued he was young and the brain continues to develop into the third decade of life.
“This means that I’m dealing with someone who, for all your bravado and superficial capability, is still a little distance from full adult,” she adds.
She also refers to an assessment he underwent, which found he had “narcissistic and antisocial personality disorders”.
“Taking these in turn, they indicate a sense of entitlement, expectation of special treatment without assuming reciprocal responsibility, and someone who is untrustworthy and unreliable,” she says.
Khalife boasted to Iran he was the ‘top soldier’ in his unit
Khalife boasted he was “one of the top soldiers” in his unit in a conversation with Iranian handlers, the judge says.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb tells Khalife he said he “worked harder than anyone else and had been promoted”.
“You added, quote, ‘I am more intelligent than everyone here, I will promote very easily’,” she tells him in court.
She also says she believes Khalife kept some record of conversations to help his defence.
“The investigation was able to recover only some deleted communications and other scrambled and partial digital traces,” she adds.
“The court has an incomplete picture. In my judgement, you knew that when your activities were discovered… you would have to provide an account of what you had disclosed.
“That was why you kept screenshots of some chat exchanges with the Iranian agents.”
She says he obtained “versions and copies of 17 documents on a USB stick”, and 14 of them in hard copy found in his barracks room.
“These documents, in the main, were designed to give the appearance of intelligence material access through your work, some of which you had falsely marked top secret or secret, but which were either completely fake or otherwise,” she adds.
Crypto USB went missing from squadron while Khalife in post
While Khalife was posting with the 16 signal regiment, the army was informed that a plug-in piece of equipment was missing, the judge says.
The crypto USB was capable of holding digital data and was part of an encryption system.
“It had been lost while in possession of another team, not yours, and this is consistent with what you told your handler about it,” she tells Khalife.
“The loss was investigated by the Royal Military Police but it was never found. The USB on its own was of no practical use without other information.”
Khalife made document about detained Iranian-British citizen
Khalife made a document about Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, and Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran as part of a long-running dispute between the two countries, the judge says.
She says the document could have been “seriously detrimental to the efforts” being made to secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release at the time.
She adds that only some of the communications between Khalife and his Iranian handler could be recovered during the investigation.
“I am sure that was not a complete record of what you send and you did not give a truthful account in evidence,” the judge tells him.
Cash left in cemetery for Khalife, who searched flights to Tehran
In October 2021, Daniel Khalife collected a second payment of £1,000 in cash left for him in a cemetery in London, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb says.
Then in November, he used an unregistered mobile to make two anonymous phone calls to MI5, which were recorded, she adds.
“The first you volunteered that you had been in contact with Iran’s secret services for over two years, having been approached through social media asking if you could spy for them,” she says.
“You claimed that you gave them some secret looking documents obtained from Wikileaks, for which they paid you twice.
“You said you’d like to help the United Kingdom security services by maintaining the relationship.”
He had also said he wanted an end to it because he was concerned about his job – without specifying he was a British soldier, the judge says.
Khalife also made internet searches for flights to Tehran.
“And the day before your second call to MI5, you made a recording in which you discussed detailed travel plans to Iran via Lebanon and the opportunity to receive some training for the activities you were engaged in,” she adds.
Khalife collected information on special forces soldiers
Khalife recorded a “great deal of information” – and took photos of secure areas, the judge says.
She adds that he collected data that was marked “secret”, which related to the operation of the military’s Falcon communications system.
He continued to record and collect sensitive information when he was deployed to a multinational training exercise in Texas, she explains.
“You were in contact with the Iranians at that time and again photographing screens clearly marked secret,” she says.
After he returned from the US, the judge says Khalife was in touch with his Iranian handler on an almost weekly basis.
He told his handler that he could identify personnel and collected the personal details of 15 solider that were about to be promoted.
The judge says he specially selected to collect information on UK Special Forces soldiers and members of the elite SAS, taking their details down by hand.
Khalife said he did this to demonstrated a flaw in the security system, but the judge says he could have done this just by talking to someone about his concerns.
MI6 silence should have been sign Khalife ‘failed’ in double agent bid
The judge tells Khalife he tried to “establish a credible relationship with Iranian security officers” after he was told his Iranian ancestry was likely to keep him from a career in British intelligence.
He had hoped to use this as a route into security clearance and work in British intelligence, the judge adds.
As we reported earlier, Khalife had tried to contact MI6 in 2019, but got no response.
“If what you told the police was indeed your motivation, then the fact that you received no response from MI6 should have been a sign that you had failed in that endeavour,” she says.
“The honourable option was to knuckle down, prove your worth and seek a meaningful career… but rather than ceasing contact with enemy agents, you persisted.”
“Indeed, in one conversation, of which you kept a screenshot, you said that you were prepared to stay in the military for 25 years or more to do what Iran asked,” the judge adds.
‘I want to work as a double agent’ – Khalife sent MI6 an anonymous note
The judge says Khalife sent an anonymous email to MI6 after being given £1,500.
In the message, which was sent from a made up email address, he said the writer had been contacted five months prior to provide the Iranian government with information.
The judge says he also stated that the writer had provided fake documents to the Iranian government in return for £2,000.
He signed off the email: “The reason I agreed to do this is because I want to work as a double agent for the security service.”
M16 did not respond to the email at the time, which the judge said was not surprising.