Khalife could have 'endangered Zaghari-Ratcliffe'

A former British army soldier could have endangered the life of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe by sending a fake intelligence document to Iran, a court has heard.

Daniel Khalife, 23, is accused of sending a document to Iranian agents titled "Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe intelligence options" which he created in 2021.

Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court heard the fake document said the British government was not willing to negotiate over her release after she was detained in Iran for six years.

Mr Khalife has pleaded guilty to escaping from Wandsworth Prison last September, but is on trial on three other charges which he denies.

These include collecting and communicating information useful to an enemy, namely Iran; collecting the names of Special Forces soldiers that would be useful for terrorism and perpetrating a bomb hoax at his army barracks.

Mr Khalife’s trial began last month, and he has been giving evidence for four days.

On Tuesday jurors heard Mr Khalife's fake document read: "There will be no advances in the area of returning Nazanin to the UK without further procurement of the debt owed to the Islamic Republic.

"The UK will not be seen to pay ransoms to hostile nations ... terrorists have long used kidnap for ransom."

In 2016 Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, 46, was arrested by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport in Tehran after a holiday visit, where she had taken her daughter Gabriella to see her parents.

She was sentenced to five years in prison over allegations, which she denies, of plotting to overthrow the Tehran government.

Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was freed in 2022 after ministers agreed to settle a £400m debt dating back to the 1970s.

Prosecutors said Mr Khalife acted recklessly in sending the document - which referenced an apparent meeting between then Foreign Office minister James Cleverly and Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani.

It could have caused "consequences" for Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the court heard.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said: "Do you understand that contemplating sending, or sending this document like you told police, could endanger British citizens?"

Mr Khalife said he did not remember the document in question.

In a transcript of a police interview previously read to the jury, Mr Khalife said he produced "fake documents" to help convince the Iranians to trust him.

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, the court heard.

Prosecutors said Mr Khalife made sure there was no record of what document was sent.

The trial continues.