The father of Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni religious scholar who has reportedly been added to a US hit list, says his son will halt his anti-US messages if Washington removes him from the list.

Al-Awlaki, accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda’s Yemeni offshoot, was added to the CIA’s list of targets to be killed or captured for directly plotting against the US, a US intelligence official said last week.

His father, Nasser al-Awlaki, a former minister of agriculture and rector at the University of Sanaa, called on the US on Sunday to end the hunt for his son.

“If Washington stops targeting [him] by threatening to abduct, capture, or kill him, Anwar will cease his statements and speeches against it,” he told Al Jazeera.

It is not clear whether the father’s offer had been made with al-Awlaki’s consent.

The US administration reportedly approved the killing of al-Awlaki after US intelligence agencies concluded he was now directly involved in plots against the US, and not just publicly encouraging such attacks.

‘No evidence’

But Yemeni authorities said on Saturday that they had not received any evidence from the US to support allegations that the US-born al-Awlaki is recruiting for an al-Qaeda offshoot in Yemen.

“Anwar al-Awlaki has always been looked at as a preacher rather than a terrorist and shouldn’t be considered as a terrorist unless the Americans have evidence that he has been involved in terrorism,” Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, the Yemeni foreign minister, said.

His announcement came after a powerful Yemeni tribe threatened to use violence against anyone trying to harm al-Awlaki.

via Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Yemen’s Awlaki family offers deal.