An interpreter who worked for Britain's top commander in Afghanistan has been accused of spying after being passed over for promotion.
London's Old Bailey court was told on Monday that Corporal Daniel James sent a coded message to an Iranian military attaché in Kabul, telling him, "I am at your service."
Prosecutor Mark Dennis claimed the two men exchanged emails and 'many telephone conversations'. Dennis, however, said it was not clear whether Corp. James had attempted to become an agent or was already one.
"The concern is not so much the actual damage done by the known disclosure of information, but in the potential damage that could have occurred if his activities had not been curtailed by his early detection and arrest," Dennis said.
Corp. James has denied collecting and communicating information useful to an enemy and willful misconduct in public office. The Iranian-born translator, however, is accused of carrying confidential NATO files on a computer flash drive when he was arrested in December 2006.
"The value of these documents to anyone trying to sell himself as an agent to a foreign power, or to continue promoting himself as such, trying to show how close he was to sensitive information, is all too clear," Dennis claimed.
The trial is expected to last three to four weeks. Some sessions are expected to be held behind closed doors.
The revelation about James' alleged spying charges comes at a time when Tehran is at loggerheads with London over the imminent release of the only surviving culprit involved in a 1980 terrorist attack on the Iranian embassy in London. Iran has asked Britain to deport Fowzi Badavi-Nejad, the convicted terrorist, to his home country. Badavi-Nejad's release, meanwhile, will reportedly allow the felon to enjoy a safe stay in the UK. |