Claims of Former British Soldier Accused of Collecting Information for the Islamic Republic: I Wanted to Be a 'Double Agent'

A former British soldier who provided sensitive information to individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran and later escaped from prison is now being pursued. Mark Heywood, a prosecutor, told a jury in a London court on Tuesday, October 9, that Daniel Abed Khalife collected 'sensitive and sometimes classified' information for over two years between May 2019 and January 2022, claiming he did this to become a double agent. Khalife, who is no longer a member of the British armed forces, was accused of placing a fake bomb on a table and escaping from a military base in 2023 before his arrest. Heywood added that while awaiting trial, he escaped from prison last September, prompting a 'hard and nationwide search' for him. The 23-year-old is being tried for collecting information that could be useful to an 'enemy,' which in this case is the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khalife is also facing 'terrorism' charges and has denied all allegations. Heywood stated that Khalife joined the British Army just before his 17th birthday in 2018 and passed a security inspection in early 2019. The prosecutor told the jury, 'Mr. Khalife did not intend to keep his head down, learn his trade, and become a marked individual in the army.' He added that Khalife was even preoccupied with espionage thoughts during the early stages of his training while still 17. Heywood said that after his arrest in 2022, Khalife told police that he initially contacted someone linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was 'trying to become a double agent.' The prosecutor noted that Khalife stated that in August 2019, at the direction of someone who hired him, he retrieved about $2,000 hidden in a dog waste bag from a park in North London. Two weeks after this incident, Khalife anonymously emailed the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), writing, 'The reason I agreed to this was that I wanted to work as a double agent for the security service.' Heywood told the jury that they should consider Khalife's 'true motivation' and that the prosecution's case has deemed it 'misleading.' The trial of Daniel Abed Khalife is ongoing.