LOS ANGELES - The charge of treason was used for the first time in the United States' war on terrorism Wednesday, filed against a California man who appeared in propaganda videos for al-Qaida. Adam Yehiye Gadahn, 28, could be sentenced to death if convicted of the charge, which has been used only a few dozen times in U.S. history and not at all since the World War II era. He also was indicted on a charge of providing material support to terrorists.Gadahn "knowingly adhered to an enemy of the United States, namely, al-Qaida, and gave al-Qaida aid and comfort ... with intent to betray the United States," according to the indictment, handed up by an Orange County grand jury.
| That's exactly right, and I'm going to ululate the day this scumbag is brought to justice, dead or alive. |
Gadahn, who is believed to be in or near Pakistan, is suspected of having attended the terrorist group's training camps in Pakistan and serving as one of its translators. He has become known by his nom de guerre, Azzam al-Amriki, or "Azzam the American."
Gadahn appeared last month in a 48-minute video along with al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, calling on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. It was the second time he appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri. In a July 7 video marking the one-year anniversary of the terror attack on London commuters, Gadahn appeared briefly, saying no Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by al-Qaida attacks.
| I think the videos will be ample evidence to satisfy the constitutional requirements on a charge of treason. |
According to the indictment, Gadahn announced in the 2004 video that he had joined al-Qaida, "a movement waging war on America and killing large numbers of Americans."
"Fighting and defeating America is our first priority," he said, according to the indictment. "... The streets of America shall run red with blood."
The treason charge carries penalties ranging from a five-year prison sentence to the death penalty, while the charge of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization carries a possible 15-year sentence.
Raised in Southern California on a Riverside goat farm, Gadahn converted to Islam and worshipped at the Islamic Society of Orange County in 1997 before being expelled for attacking one of its leaders. His mother last spoke to him by phone in March 2001. At the time he was in Pakistan, working at a newspaper, and his wife was getting ready to have a child.
Gadahn's aunt, Nancy Pearlman, declined to comment.