Man charged in US for leaking secret documents about Israeli attack on Iran

Asif William Rahman was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make a court appearance in Guam.

A man who worked overseas for the United States government has been charged with leaking classified information prior to Israel’s planned missile attack on Iran last month, according to media reports citing court documents.

The man, identified as Asif William Rahman, was arrested by the FBI this week in Cambodia and was due to make his first court appearance in Guam, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

Rahman was indicted last week in US court in Virginia on two counts of disclosing national defence information under the Espionage Act, and could face a lengthy prison sentence.

The New York Times reported that Rahman was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A CIA spokesperson declined to comment to Al Jazeera.

The leaked documents were prepared by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGIA), which analyses images and information collected by US spy satellites, the newspaper reported.

The NGIA conducts work in support of secret US military operations.

The documents appeared last month on a channel of the Telegram messaging app. The documents noted that Israel was still moving military assets in place to conduct a military strike in response to Iran’s blistering ballistic missile attack on October 1.

Israel carried out a retaliatory attack on multiple sites in Iran in late October.

After the attack, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned Israel and the US of “a crushing response” for actions against Iran and its allies, according to state media.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies