CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Samir Khan's family in Charlotte, N.C., called the al-Qaida propagandist killed in a U.S. airstrike a "law-abiding" citizen assassinated by the U.S. government.
In a statement, The Charlotte Observer reported, the family said: "Being a law-abiding citizen of the United States, our late son Samir Khan never broke any law and was never implicated of any crime. The Fifth Amendment states that no citizen shall be 'deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law' yet our government assassinated two of its citizens.""
Khan, 25, was killed in the airstrike Friday in Yemen along with radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, also a U.S. citizen.
In the statement, the family questioned why Khan was not captured and tried and asked, "Where is the justice?"
The family said the U.S. government had not "contacted us with any news about the recovery of our son's remains nor offered us any condolences."
"As a result, we feel appalled by the indifference shown to us by our government," the statement said.
Khan was the editor of "Inspire," a magazine aimed at recruiting young Muslims to the al-Qaida view of jihad. One of its articles was titled "How to Build a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."
His family moved to Charlotte from New York in 2004.
