A former soldier could have endangered the life of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe by sending a fake intelligence document to Iran, a court has been told.
Daniel Khalife, 23, pleaded guilty to escaping from prison under a food catering truck and going on the run for four days while awaiting trial on Monday.
He is also accused of spending two years passing secrets to the Iranians while serving with the Royal Corps of Signals. He denies the charges, saying he only handed over fabricated documents in an attempt to become a double agent.
The former soldier is accused of sending a document to Iranian agents titled “Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe intelligence options” that he created in 2021, which said the British government was not willing to negotiate over her release.
The British-Iranian woman was detained in Iran in 2016 after a holiday visit to Tehran with her daughter, and was only allowed to return to the UK in March 2022.
Read more:
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: The six-year fight for freedom
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Referencing an apparent conversation between then foreign minister James Cleverly and Iran’s former deputy foreign minister, the document read “there will be no advances in the area of returning Nazanin to the UK” without paying a £400m debt to Iran dating back to the 1970s.
It added: “The UK will not be seen to pay ransoms to hostile nations… terrorists have long used kidnap for ransom.”
Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC told Woolwich Crown Court on Tuesday that Khalife acted recklessly in sending the document and could have caused “consequences” for Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
He asked the 23-year-old: “Do you understand that contemplating sending, or sending this document like you told police, could endanger British citizens?”
Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, said he did not remember the document in question.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was sentenced to five years in prison over an alleged plot to overthrow the Iranian government – which she denied.
The British-Iranian woman only returned to the UK in March 2022 after ministers agreed to settle the outstanding debt.
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The former soldier had told police that he produced “fake documents” to help convince the Iranians to trust him, per a transcript previously read to the jury.
His trial also heard that when police arrested him and searched his room at Ministry of Defence Stafford in January 2022, they found a number of “completely fake” documents in digital and paper form purporting to be from MPs, senior military officials and the security services.
Read more from the trial:
Khalife says it was ‘foolish’ to have his ‘skillset’ in prison
CCTV shows Khalife ‘reading story about manhunt’
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Khalife denies charges contrary to the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act and is accused of perpetrating a bomb hoax.
The trial continues.
