**Former British Soldier Found Guilty of Spying for Iran**

A former British soldier, who made headlines last year with a dramatic prison escape and subsequent three-day manhunt, has been convicted of espionage for Iran. The 23-year-old Daniel Khalife was found guilty by a jury despite his claims of attempting to act as a double agent for British security agencies. Prosecutors dismissed his assertions as merely "a cynical game."

Khalife, who had confessed to his prison break, was acquitted of performing a bomb hoax. Nevertheless, his trial revealed that he had sought out a middleman linked to Iran, contacting him via a Facebook message. Through this message, he proposed remaining undercover in the British Army for Iran for over 25 years, as reported by Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Prosecutors detailed that Khalife had created and forwarded both counterfeit and genuine documents, including those supposedly from Members of Parliament and sensitive army information. Among these compromised documents were those containing personal details of special forces soldiers. CPS’s Bethan David stated that Khalife had "surreptitiously sought out and obtained copies of secret and sensitive information which he knew were protected and passed these on to individuals he believed to be acting on behalf of the Iranian state."

Further complicating his case, Khalife accepted significant sums of money for his actions and traveled to Turkey as part of his illicit activities, David added. Khalife’s lawyer, Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, argued that his client’s double-agent scheme was more akin to a bumbling "Scooby-Doo" operation than a sophisticated James Bond-style mission, even bordering on slapstick.

Khalife was initially arrested in January 2022 at a barracks in England. At the time, he confessed to receiving £1,500 ($1,900) from Iranian handlers, handed over in a dog waste bag as part of his covert dealings. Khalife is slated for sentencing early next year.