British soldier jailed for 10 years for spying for Iran

Friday, November 28, 2008

An Iranian-born British soldier has been jailed for ten years after being convicted of "communicating information useful to an enemy". Forty-five year-old Daniel James from Brighton had been the personal translator for the head of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, General Sir David Richards.

After joining the Territorial Army, Britain's army reserve, James was sent to Afghanistan in May 2006. He was arrested in December 2006, two months after he made contact with Colonel Mohammed Hossein Heydari, an Iranian military attaché in Kabul. The court heard allegations that James believed he had been denied promotion because of racism and jealousy, and also that he had debts of £25,000 and had mortgages on four properties in Brighton.

The jury at London's Central Criminal Court was unable to agree on verdicts on two other charges under the Official Secrets Act, relating to his possession of sensitive documents on a USB memory stick, and a second of misconduct in a public office.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

"Army spy is jailed for 10 years" — BBC News Online, November 28, 2008
"Iran spy case interpreter jailed" — The Press Association, November 28, 2008

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.