Zachary Adam Chesser

Who is Zachary Adam Chesser?

Zachary Adam Chesser is an American citizen who became interested in Islam in high school in 2008, converted and progressively "radicalized". He was convicted as an Islamist terrorist in 2010.

Chesser first dated a Muslim woman and converted to Islam. He eventually married another Muslim woman, Proscovia Kampire Nzabanita, and fathered a son with her. Chesser joined several moderate Muslim organizations, then his interests evolved towards increasingly militant positions and he started posting on radical Islamist websites, becoming a key member of the Revolution Muslim website which praised Osama Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks.

Chesser became familiar with and communicated by e-mail with Anwar al-Awlaki who was later targeted and killed in a drone strike because of his role in Al Qaeda attacks against the United States.

Chesser became widely known when in April 2010, under the online username Abu Talhah al-Amrikee, Chesser had posted a "warning" on the Revolution Muslim website to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated TV series, South Park, suggesting they would be killed for depicting Muhammad in one of their cartoon episodes.

In July 2010, he was arrested while boarding a plane to go to Somalia. He was charged with aiding Al-Shabaab, which is aligned with al-Qaeda and has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. After pleading guilty, Chesser was sentenced in federal court on February 24, 2011 to 25 years in prison.