
37 months in prison for ex-CIA analyst Asif Rahman who leaked docs on Israeli strike
Asif Rahman, 34, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency since 2016 and held a top secret security clearance, was arrested by the FBI in Cambodia in November last year.
In January, Rahman pleaded guilty at a federal courthouse in Virginia to two counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.
He faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Iran unleashed a wave of close to 200 ballistic missiles on Israel on October 1 in retaliation for the killings of senior figures in the Tehran-backed Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.
Israel responded with a wave of strikes on military targets in Iran in late October.
According to a court filing, on October 17 Rahman printed out two top secret documents 'regarding a United States foreign ally and its planned kinetic actions against a foreign adversary.'
He photographed the documents and used a computer program to edit the images in 'an attempt to conceal their source and delete his activity,' it said.
Rahman then transmitted the documents to 'multiple individuals he knew were not entitled to receive them' before shredding them at work.
The documents, circulated on the Telegram app by an account called Middle East Spectator, described Israeli preparations for a possible strike on Iran but did not identify any actual targets.
According to The Washington Post, the documents, generated by the US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, described aviation exercises and movements of munitions at an Israeli airfield.
The leak led Israeli officials to delay their retaliatory strike.

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Saudi Gazette
39 minutes ago
- Saudi Gazette
Palestinians flee Gaza City districts as Israel says first stages of offensive have begun
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Israel has not yet submitted a formal response, but Israeli officials insisted on Tuesday that they would no longer accept a partial deal and demanded a comprehensive one that would see all the hostages released. On Wednesday Hamas accused Netanyahu of disregarding the mediators' ceasefire proposal and said he was the "real obstructionist of any agreement", according to a statement cited by Reuters. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's health ministry. The ministry's figures are quoted by the UN and others as the most reliable source of statistics available on casualties. — BBC


Arab News
41 minutes ago
- Arab News
18 arrested in second day of staff-led protests at Microsoft HQ
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Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
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