Samir Khan | |
|---|---|
سمير بن ظافر خان | |
| Born | Samir ibn Zafar Khan (1985-12-25)December 25, 1985 |
| Died | September 30, 2011(2011-09-30) (aged 25) |
| Cause of death | Drone strike |
| Occupation(s) | Editor and publisher ofInspire magazine |
Samir ibn Zafar Khan (Arabic:سمير بن ظافر خان,Urdu:سمیر خان; December 25, 1985 – September 30, 2011) was a Saudi Arabiannaturalized U.S. citizen,jihadistmilitant, and the editor and publisher ofInspire, an English-language online magazine reported to be published by theIslamic terrorist groupal-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). He was killed in a drone strike inYemen together withAnwar al-Awlaki.[1][2][3]
Khan was born inRiyadh,Saudi Arabia, to parents ofPakistani descent and grew up inQueens,New York, U.S.[4][5] He also spent some of his teenage years living inWestbury, New York.[6] He graduated fromW. Tresper Clarke High School in 2003 where he wrote for the school newspaper and played junior varsity football.[7] According to his classmates, he refused to recitePledge of Allegiance and blamed Americans for theSeptember 11 attacks.[8] Khan's father, Zafar Khan, is an information technology executive. The family moved toCharlotte, North Carolina, in 2004.[9]
He lived in Charlotte before leaving the country forYemen in 2009.[10] He reportedly cut off ties with his family when he left the U.S.[11] After Khan's death, a family friend toldCNN that Khan's father did not agree with his son's ideas[12] and had sought help to change his son's radical views on several occasions.[9]
In 2003, Khan started aBlogspotblog called "InshallahShaheed" or "Martyr, God willing" from his parents' basement.[10] Before moving to Yemen he launched the magazineJihad Recollections, "the first online jihadist magazine in English",[13] with four issues, with the last one published in September 2009.[14] After moving to Yemen he became the editor ofInspire. In an article written by Khan and published inInspire titled, "I am proud to be a traitor to America," Khan outlined his grievances against the United States. According to Ben Venzke, CEO ofIntelCenter, "The primary focus of the magazine is to inspire individuals to not just fly to Yemen and join the group, but rather to provide them with the inspiration, the ideological framework, the targeting philosophy and the practical mechanics of building a bomb or conducting a shooting."[12]
In his bookTicking Time Bomb: Counter-Terrorism Lessons from the U.S. Government's Failure to Prevent the Fort Hood Attack (2011), former U.S. SenatorJoe Lieberman described Australian Muslim preacherFeiz Mohammad, American-Yemeni imamAnwar al-Awlaki, Muslim clericAbdullah el-Faisal, and Pakistani-American Samir Khan as "virtual spiritual sanctioners" who use the internet to offer religious justification for Islamist terrorism.[15]
It was reported in May 2013 that Al Qaeda devotees native to the United States might have been using the instruction manuals that Khan posted online before his death. It was suspected that theBoston Marathon bombing was carried out according to these manuals.[16]
Khan was killed in theAl Jawf Governorate of Yemen while traveling from theMa'rib Governorate, in the same air-strike that killedAnwar al-Awlaki.[17] Both were U.S. citizens. According to U.S. officials Khan was not a significant enough target to have been specifically targeted but died because he was accompanying al-Awlaki.[18]
Attorney and journalistGlenn Greenwald said that the killing was a violation of thedue process clause of theFifth Amendment to theUnited States Constitution, which states that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."[19]
However, some international law experts claimed that the attack that killed Khan was legal.[20]Duke Law School professorScott Silliman asserted that Awlaki's activity "put him in the category of a legitimate target," and University of Utah law professorAmos Guiora said, "This attack appears to have met the criteria of proportionality, military necessity and the absence of alternatives to be in full accordance with a state's right to aggressive self-defense."[21]
Commenting on Khan's death, counter-terrorism expertPeter Bergen noted, "The fact that the editor of the magazine (Khan) has also been killed is a problem for al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, particularly as it relates to their Western recruitment effort, because the two people who principally spoke to the Western world are now dead."[12]
After Khan's death, his family released a statement criticizing U.S. government and asking, "Was this style of execution the only solution? Why couldn't there have been a capture and trial? Where is the justice? As we mourn our son, we must ask these questions."[22]
