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U.S. brings 1st treason case in over 50 years
California-born convert to Islam could face death penalty if ever caught

A California-born convert to Islam who has appeared in al Qaeda videos became on Wednesday the first American charged with treason since the World War Two era, a U.S. Justice Department official said.

Adam Gadahn, 28, who is believed to be overseas and is not in U.S. custody, was accused of treason, which carries a maximum punishment of death, and providing material support for a terrorist group, the official said.

Gadahn, also known on the videos as Azzam the American, has been involved in a propaganda campaign of the Islamic militant group, sources familiar with the case said. Some of the videos have threatened attacks against the United States.

He converted to Islam from a Judeo-Christian family when he was 17 and a few years later moved to Pakistan. He previously was known as Adam Pearlman and grew up on a goat ranch outside Los Angeles.

The charges were contained in an indictment handed up in a federal court in California by a grand jury and disclosed by the Justice Department official. The department planned a news conference at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) to announce the charges.

The FBI has sought to question Gadahn since May 2004.

In Los Angeles, Gadahn's aunt, Nancy Pearlman said, "We are not giving any interviews." She declined to be drawn on the subject even in general terms.

There were a number of treason cases after World War Two, including a trial in 1952, legal experts said. In one of the cases, an American woman, known as "Tokyo Rose," was convicted of treason and later pardoned. She died in Chicago last month. 

Justice Department sources denied the case was timed to deflect attention from the fallout over lewd computer messages sent by a former Republican congressman to young male aides, a scandal that may help Democrats seize control of Congress in November 7 election.

The FBI has said that Gadahn attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, that he has been associated with al Qaeda's leaders and that he has done translations for al Qaeda.

His last video was posted on a Web site on September 2.

"If the Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants like ... the crusader and chief George W. Bush were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam," Gadahn said in English.

Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, made a brief statement at the start of the tape urging viewers to listen carefully to the message.

U.S. officials believe Gadahn appeared in another video last year, right before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks, threatening al Qaeda attacks on Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia.

They also believe Gadahn threatened attacks in a video released in October 2004, just before the U.S. presidential election.