Pakistanis arrest American al Qaeda spokesman

Monday, March 8, 2010
KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani security agents have arrested an American al Qaeda spokesman wanted in the United States on a treason charge, Pakistani security officials said on Sunday.

WorldAdam Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam and the first American to be charged with treason since the World War Two era, has appeared in al Qaeda videos posted on the Internet threatening the United States with violence.Gadahn's capture is the latest in a series of militant arrests in U.S. ally Pakistan that has raised hopes for more concerted action against the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda as U.S. forces battle militants over the border in Afghanistan."He was arrested in Karachi recently," said a Pakistani security agent who declined to be identified.Another agent said Gadahn was picked up on the outskirts of the southern city with two accomplices."It's an important catch," said the second agent, who also declined to be identified.But Interior Minister Rehman Malik said he had no information about any such arrest.Gadahn, who is believed to be in his early 30s, has appeared in several al Qaeda videos, usually wearing robes and a turban and warning the United Sta!
tes that it will face attacks if it does not heed al Qaeda demands."Your failure to meet our demands ... means that you and your people will, Allah willing, experience things which will make you forget about the horrors of September 11," said the bearded Gadahn in a 2007 video, addressing his comments to then President George W. Bush.The FBI has been seeking to question Gadahn since May 2004, and the U.S. government has offered up to $1 million in reward money for information leading to his arrest.BETRAY THE UNITED STATES"Gadahn converted to Islam from a Jewish-Christian family when he was 17 and a few years later moved to Pakistan. He was previously known as Adam Pearlman and grew up on a goat ranch outside Los Angeles.The 2006 treason charge against him carries a maximum punishment of death.According to the charges, Gadahn appeared in videos giving al Qaeda "aid and comfort ... with the intent to betray the United States."A U.S. Justice Department official said at the tim!
e Gadahn appeared to be involved only in propaganda for the Is!
lamist m
ilitant group, not in planning attacks.Pakistan is battling indigenous Taliban militants and has resisted U.S. pressure to launch military offensives against Afghan Taliban factions based in rugged ethnic Pashtun lands on its northwestern border.But Pakistan has arrested several senior members of the Afghan Taliban in recent weeks, including a top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.But Pakistan, apparently nervous of a public backlash in a country where anti-U.S. feeling is running high, has only officially confirmed the arrest of Baradar.(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider; Writing by Robert Birsel; editing by Ralph Boulton)
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