LOS ANGELES, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- A grand jury in California on Wednesday indicted an American with treason for providing material support to al Qaeda.

    Adam Gadahn, a 28-year-old who grew up in Riverside County, Southern California, became the first American since the World War II era to be charged with treason against the United States.

    Gadahn is a fugitive and believed to be overseas, according to the Justice Department.

    Gadahn, who calls himself "Azzam the American" has appeared in several al Qaeda videotapes broadcast since October 2004, in which he said he had joined al Qaeda and called the 9/11 attack "the blessed raids."

    This past July, Gadahn appeared in a third video that also carried statements from Zawahiri and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. In that video, Gadahn referred to the recent capture of two American servicemen in Iraq and said, among other things: "So after all the atrocities committed by America ... why should we target their military only?"

    In the two most recent videos broadcast last month, Gadahn urged U.S. soldiers to "escape from the unbelieving Army and join the winning side." He later referred to the U.S. as "enemy soil."

    Gadahn has emerged in recent months as the most significant American convert to radical Islam.

    In May 1997, Gadahn was arrested for allegedly attacking a well-known leader at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of assault and battery.

    By then, records and interviews show, Gadahn had become close to two radical Moslems who were followers of the radical cleric Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called blind sheik who is serving a life sentence in federal prison for his role in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center.

    He later went to Afghanistan and attended an al Qaeda training camp there, working as a translator for several of the organization's leaders. Enditem