[wvns] Adam Gadahn detained in Pakistan

Top Al Qaeda leader reported held in Karachi
By Anwar Iqbal
Monday, 08 Mar, 2010
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/top-al-qaeda-leader-reported-held-in-karachi-830

WASHINGTON, March 7: An American Al Qaeda leader, Adam Yahiye Gadahn, was arrested in Karachi on Sunday, US and Pakistani diplomatic sources told journalists here.

Gadahn was likely detained in Sohrab Goth, a major Pashtun area in northern Karachi, which also has a large population of tribesmen from North and South Waziristan.

Also known as `Azzam the American', Gadahn has long been on the US `Most Wanted List'. Officials in Washington described his capture as `a major victory' in the war against Al Qaeda.

All major US media outlets, while reporting the arrest of Osama bin Laden's spokesman, also credited DawnNews with breaking the news.

The reported capture of Gadahn comes the same day as As Sahab, Al Qaeda website, released a video of him praising Major Nidal Hasan, the US army officer who murdered 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, on Nov 5, 2009.

In Sunday's message, Gadahn cited the US and allied build-up in Afghanistan, where the US is in the process of adding about 30,000 troops to the conflict. He urges Muslims to play their "due role" in "repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam" in Afghanistan.

Gadahn is the first American to be charged with treason in his country since World War II. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Al Qaeda videos containing Gadahn's messages always identified him as "Azzam the American" or Azzam Al-Amreeki. He was born in Oregon on Sept 1, 1978 to a Jewish family.

His hippie father converted to Christianity before his son was born, changing the family name from Pearlman to Gadahn.

Adam Gadahn was home-schooled in southern California. He embraced to Islam at 17 and moved to Pakistan in 1998 at 20 and married an Afghan refugee woman.

Intelligence officials say he joined up with Al Qaeda after 9/11 and attended terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.

By 2004, he was a senior Al Qaeda operative and became Bin Laden's top propagandist, appearing in internet videos calling for the destruction of America.

Charged with treason in 2006, he is believed to report directly to Bin Laden's right-hand man, Ayman al Zawahiri.

There was a $1 million reward on his head but he proved elusive, avoiding several attempts to capture him.

In 2004, he was added to the FBI war on terrorism list but on Oct 11, 2006, he was removed from that list, and placed on the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Rewards for Justice List of wanted criminals.

Gadahn's paternal grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a prominent urologist and a "zealous supporter" of Israel.

Gadahn's paternal grandmother, Agnes Branch, was an editor for The Chronicle Christian Newspaper.

On May 26, 2004, US Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that Gadahn was one of seven Al Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or autumn of 2004.

Gadahn was rumoured to have been killed in a US airstrike in North Waziristan in January 2008, but he later resurfaced and released several videotapes.

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