Adam Yahiye Gadahn
| Adam Yahiye Gadahn | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Adam Pearlman September 1, 1978 Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | January 19, 2015 (aged 36) Waziristan, Pakistan |
| Cause of death | Drone strike |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Interpreter, spokesman for al-Qaeda |
| Known for | Member of al-Qaeda/FBI's most wanted |
| Height | 5 ft. 11 in. (1.8 m) |
| Weight | 210 lb. (95 kg) |
Adam Yahiye Gadahn (Arabic: آدم يحيى غدن, Ādam Yaḥyā Ghadan; born Adam Pearlman; September 1, 1978 – January 19, 2015) was an American senior operative, cultural interpreter, spokesman and media advisor for the Islamist group al-Qaeda. Since 2004, he had appeared in a number of videos produced by al-Qaeda as "Azzam the American" ('Azzām al-Amrīki, عزام الأمريكي, sometimes transcribed as Ezzam Al-Amerikee). Gadahn, who converted to Islam from Christianity in 1995 at a California mosque, was described as "homegrown," meaning that he had converted to an ideology so firmly that he was willing to harm his country of origin. American intelligence officials allege that he inspired the 2007 Osama bin Laden video.
In 2004, he was added to the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list. On October 11, 2006 he was removed from that list, and placed on the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Rewards for Justice Program list of wanted criminals. On the same day, Gadahn was indicted based on the testimony of the FBI case agent E. J. Hilbert II, in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California by a federal grand jury for the capital crime of treason for aiding an enemy of the United States, i.e., al-Qaeda. On January 19, 2015, Gadahn was killed in a series of unmanned aircraft strikes in Waziristan, Pakistan.
Gadahn was born Adam Pearlman in 1978, in Oregon, United States. Gadahn's paternal grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a prominent Jewish activist, urologist and on the Board of Directors of the Anti-Defamation League. Gadahn's paternal grandmother, Agnes Branch, a Christian, was an editor for The Christian Family Chronicles (a genealogical publication for people with the surname "Christian"). Gadahn's father is Philip, a musician who grew up in Orange County, California. Philip and his wife Jennifer legally changed their last name to Gadahn in the mid-1970s, after the Biblical warrior Gideon. Philip Gadahn was involved in the counterculture movement at the University of California at Irvine, and before Adam's birth became a Christian. Gadahn described his father as having been "raised agnostic or atheist, but he became a believer in One God when he picked up a Bible left on the beach." His father's religious perspective was flexible and based upon his own spiritual needs and as a new convert to Islam, Gadahn portrayed his father in a manner sympathetic to his religion of conversion.
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