US brings first treason case in over 50 years

from reuters/yahoo: 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...

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.