UK soldier accused of giving secrets to Iran -source

LONDON, Dec 21 (Reuters) The British interpreter for NATO's commander in Afghanistan has appeared in court accused of passing secrets to Iran, a police source said today.

The charge comes as NATO troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban in southern Afghanistan. The United States accuses Iran of being the world's top sponsor of terrorism and aiding the remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Daniel James, an interpreter for NATO commander in Afghanistan General David Richards, had communicated with a ''foreign power'' believed to be Iran, the police source said.

James has an Iranian mother and speaks fluent Pashtun, the main language of southern Afghanistan, newspapers said.

As an interpreter for the British general who commands some 30,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan, James would be privy to highly sensitive military and political information.

The charges are likely to embarrass Richards, the first British general to command a large force of US troops since World War Two.

Richards has been commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan since July 31 this year when the alliance assumed responsibility for peacekeeping across the whole of the country.

Since then, fighting between the Taliban and NATO forces has flared-up. More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, have died in violence in Afghanistan this year. About 160 foreign troops have also been killed.

''AIDING THE ENEMY'' Officially Shi'ite Muslim Iran long supported the opposition mujahideen against the Taliban until the radical Sunni government was overthrown by US-led forces in late 2001.

But some analysts have suggested that Tehran may now be partially backing the Taliban to embarrass Western forces and ensure they are bogged down in Afghanistan.

The London court yesterday charged that on November 2, James ''for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or the interest of the state, communicated to another person information calculated to be, or that might be, or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy''.

The Crown Prosecution Service would only confirm James' name and the charge, but declined to confirm he was a soldier.

He is the first person to be charged with spying under Britain's Official Secrets Act since an MI5 officer was jailed for 23 years in 1984 for passing secrets to the Soviet Union.

The Defence Ministry was unable to comment, a spokesman said.

Iranian officials had no immediate comment.

Reporters were told to leave the magistrates court for most of the hearing due to the sensitive nature of the charges, the CPS spokesman said. James was remanded in custody until December 27.

REUTERS SP ND1940