A soldier accused of spying for Iran before escaping from prison posed for selfies while on a “holiday” in Turkey to meet his handlers, a court heard.
Daniel Khalife, 23, travelled to Istanbul in August 2020 allegedly hoping for a meeting with his Iranian contacts, where he took videos and pictures of himself at a luxury hotel.
Khalife booked flights to Istanbul at the suggestion of his alleged handlers, a court heard, where he spent six nights before returning home as a meeting did not materialise.
On the third day of his trial, Woolwich Crown Court was told more details about Khalife’s trip to Turkey, which he allegedly mentioned disguising as a holiday.
The court was shown a picture of his room in the Hilton Bomonti Hotel in Istanbul and selfies taken outside the hotel.
Khalife flew out on Aug 4 2020 on a Turkish Airlines flight and spent £725 on the hotel.
He videoed himself and the surroundings of the Hilton at 6:30pm on Aug 5 – the evening of his first full day – and apparently made a point of showing the name of the hotel twice.
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Khalfie travelled to Istanbul with the hope of meeting his Iranian handlers after the trip was suggested by a man calling himself “David Smith”.
In a message from Aug 2, “David Smith”, thought to be the name used by his Iranian handler in the UK, messaged: “Hello mate, I have some very good news for you. We are organising a meeting for you in Iran.”
The pair later discussed visiting Turkey and asked if it was better to go to Ankara, the country’s capital, or Istanbul.
“Smith” replied: “Istanbul is better because it is a tourism city.”
“To look like a holiday it needs to have a return ticket,” Khalife responded. “I will try to be there on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
His handler then advised: “Let’s talk about our main issue. The first one is that you must not be in touch with Hamed, never for ever. The second one is that no one must not get aware of your trip to Iran…be aware that you must not go to Iran embassy in London.”
He ended up not meeting his alleged handlers on the trip and the court was played an audio message recorded by Khalife in which he said the trip had gone “sour”. However, it was unclear who the message was sent to,
“Pretty much I’ve been working with the new team for about a month I think. We were supposed to meet actually in your country,” he said.
“I don’t know if I am supposed to tell you so don’t tell anyone. We were supposed to meet in your country – we went to Turley and the plan kind of went sour. They didn’t plan it correctly.
“So that is just what I wanted to tell you. Also I haven’t been able to make contact with them for about, I would say, one week so I was kind of worried. I delivered a package to them which I don’t think I should tell you but don’t mention it to anyone.”
Other messages discovered on devices linked to Khalfie included messages between him and “Smith”, in which his alleged handler said: “I miss your vocal voice; your voice is so amazing”.
“Like singers,” he added.
The court also heard that Khalife won a trophy as the best junior member of his squadron and had hopes of joining the special forces before being told he was unlikely to pass enhanced vetting because of his background.
Khalife had a promising early career after joining the British Army two weeks before his 17th birthday in September 2018.
He then joined the 16th Signal Regiment, based in Stafford in March 2020, as a signaller, and was given the “best junior soldier” cup from the 230 Squadron sergeant major in December that year.
In an image of the award shown to the court, Khalife is the only signaller to be engraved on it, with previous winners all being lance corporals.
Captain Lewis Fox, who was second-in-command of Khalife’s squadron, agreed that it was “rare” for a signaller to win the award.
A squadron has between 100 and 150 soldiers and the award had previously been given to lance corporals, who are non-commissioned officers.
When Khalife was deployed to Fort Hood in Texas on an exercise called War Fighter in February 2021, he worked extensively on the Falcon communications system used by the Army, without having been trained on it.
Khalife is accused of collecting and gathering information on the Falcon system while allegedly spying for Iran.
Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, told the court his job as a signaller was described as “relatively menial” but he began working “above his pay grade” on the Falcon system.
Capt Fox agreed when it was suggested this “was a consequence of how quickly he was learning and how good he was”.
In the spring of 2021, Khalife was “handpicked” to move from Vampire Troop to Phantom Troop, which was dedicated to using the Falcon communications system and in which he was the only soldier below the rank of lance corporal, the court heard.
His duties included fault finding and system maintenance on the Falcon system, along with making sure vehicles carrying the equipment were clean and drivers had the correct qualifications, the court was told.
In July that year, the corps colonel at 16 Signal Regiment wrote in a newsletter that Khalife had “become a master of Falcon”, adding: “Good effort and dedication to develop such skills at such an early stage of your career.”
The colonel was said to be a very important officer in the regiment and Mr Hussain said: “That he impressed him enough, to use the vernacular, to give him a shout-out is very impressive?”
“Yes,” Capt Fox said.
The praise prompted some amusement in a WhatsApp group where a mocked-up picture of Khalife with a Falcon and the logo for BAE Systems, which built the equipment, was shared on the group, the court heard.
Soldiers in the group said that Khalife was “a master of all things Falcon, one step below master of everything”, the court was told.
The court heard that in September 2021, he was promoted to lance corporal and a note recorded: “This is an enormous achievement and an important first step on your leadership journey.”
Mr Hussain asked: “It is relatively impressive to be promoted from signaller to lance corporal after your first review?”
“Yes,” Capt Fox said.
The court was told that at the start of his “phase two” training to be a signaller at Blandford Forum in Dorset in March 2019, Khalife was asked by the troop commander and said he wanted to work in signals intelligence or as a communications specialist with the special forces.
London-born Khalife, who has an Iranian-born mother and Lebanese-born father, “was told in no uncertain terms that there was no point in even trying to apply for that because he would never get vetted due to his heritage,” Mr Hussain said.
Capt Fox accepted “common knowledge” that it could be more difficult for certain people to be given developed vetting because of their background.
“You appreciate Daniel Khalife was told in absolute terms he wouldn’t get it because of where his parents were from – something he had no control over, preventing him from working where he wanted to?”
“My answer would be it is going to be very difficult and I would advise against it,” Capt Fox said. “There is a year-long course and you can go through a really attritional selection process and then fail in the last two weeks by not getting vetting.”
“We are policy bound not to stand in the way of anyone if they want to go for it, it is their choice,” he said, adding: “It is also important to manage expectations. It can be crushing to attempt selection and fail.”
However, in a statement read to the court Austin Miller, the troop commander at the time, said: “This is not something I would have commented on. I am aware of dual nationals who are in sensitive posts. I would not have told him that he would not have got vetting.”
The trial continues.
