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Californian who appeared in al-Qaida videos charged with treason
By Andrew Zajac
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - A 28-year-old California man who has appeared in five al-Qaida propaganda videos was charged with treason Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. citizen charged with the offense since World War II.
Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki or Azzam the American, "gave al-Qaida aid and comfort . . . with intent to betray the United States" through his appearances in the videos, including two released last month by the terror network, according to an indictment handed up by a grand jury in Orange County, Calif.
Gadahn, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is at large and believed to be in Pakistan. As a result of the charges, which also include providing material support to the terrorist group, Gadahn's name was added to the FBI's terrorist most wanted list and a $1 million bounty was offered for his capture.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul McNulty, who announced the indictment at the Justice Department, acknowledged that Gadahn is not charged with planning to attack the U.S., but solely with serving as a propagandist.
"This is a very significant piece of the way the enemy does business: to demoralize the troops, to encourage the spread of fear," McNulty said.
Gadahn originally had been charged in a sealed indictment in October 2005.
An American-born convert to Islam, Gadahn has been publicly linked to al-Qaida by the FBI since mid-2004.
The decision to publicly detail a new set of charges against Gadahn resulted from stronger evidence against him gleaned from the three videos he made this year, and a desire "to discourage anybody else who might be tempted . . . to join al-Qaida," McNulty said.
Asked to address skeptics who might view the timing of the indictment as intended to influence the Nov. 7 congressional elections, McNulty said it was driven by the evidence and was "in the best interests of the American people."
The U.S. has rarely brought treason charges, in part because the Constitution requires two witnesses to corroborate it, said Jonathan Hafetz, of New York's Brennan Center for Law and Justice.
"It's difficult to prove, and there are other statutes that can be used against alleged terrorists," said Hafetz, who represents terror war detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.
One of the last treason cases involved Iva Toguri, an American who in 1949 was convicted on what proved to be coerced evidence of being a voice of the Japanese government's "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
After reporters unearthed the coercion, President Gerald Ford pardoned Toguri in 1977. She died last month in Chicago.
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© 2006, Chicago Tribune.
By Andrew Zajac
Chicago Tribune
(MCT)
WASHINGTON - A 28-year-old California man who has appeared in five al-Qaida propaganda videos was charged with treason Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. citizen charged with the offense since World War II.
Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam al-Amriki or Azzam the American, "gave al-Qaida aid and comfort . . . with intent to betray the United States" through his appearances in the videos, including two released last month by the terror network, according to an indictment handed up by a grand jury in Orange County, Calif.
Gadahn, who could face the death penalty if convicted, is at large and believed to be in Pakistan. As a result of the charges, which also include providing material support to the terrorist group, Gadahn's name was added to the FBI's terrorist most wanted list and a $1 million bounty was offered for his capture.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul McNulty, who announced the indictment at the Justice Department, acknowledged that Gadahn is not charged with planning to attack the U.S., but solely with serving as a propagandist.
"This is a very significant piece of the way the enemy does business: to demoralize the troops, to encourage the spread of fear," McNulty said.
Gadahn originally had been charged in a sealed indictment in October 2005.
An American-born convert to Islam, Gadahn has been publicly linked to al-Qaida by the FBI since mid-2004.
The decision to publicly detail a new set of charges against Gadahn resulted from stronger evidence against him gleaned from the three videos he made this year, and a desire "to discourage anybody else who might be tempted . . . to join al-Qaida," McNulty said.
Asked to address skeptics who might view the timing of the indictment as intended to influence the Nov. 7 congressional elections, McNulty said it was driven by the evidence and was "in the best interests of the American people."
The U.S. has rarely brought treason charges, in part because the Constitution requires two witnesses to corroborate it, said Jonathan Hafetz, of New York's Brennan Center for Law and Justice.
"It's difficult to prove, and there are other statutes that can be used against alleged terrorists," said Hafetz, who represents terror war detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba.
One of the last treason cases involved Iva Toguri, an American who in 1949 was convicted on what proved to be coerced evidence of being a voice of the Japanese government's "Tokyo Rose" during World War II.
After reporters unearthed the coercion, President Gerald Ford pardoned Toguri in 1977. She died last month in Chicago.
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© 2006, Chicago Tribune.
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