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INDIANAPOLIS — Two Muslim inmates held in a special unit at the U.S. prison in Terre Haute say they aren’t allowed to pray in groups as often as their religion commands and have asked a federal judge to ease limitations on worship imposed by the Bureau of Prisons. The prison in western Indiana houses several high-security inmates, including American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding Afghanistan’s now-defunct Taliban government. The June 16 lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana challenges limits on Islamic worship in the prison’s restrictive Communications Management...

If it's December, it's time for the left to throw another shameless pity party for convicted American jihadist John Walker Lindh (aka Suleyman al-Faris, aka Abdul Hamid). Every Christmas season for the past four years, the Taliban accomplice and his parents have asked President Bush to pardon him. This country should save its tears and mercy for the defenders of freedom. The farther we move from the September 11 attacks, the cloudier our collective memory of Lindh's case becomes. Sympathetic journalists have rewritten the history, embracing him as a naive young hippie-dippie from Marin County, Calif., who was just caught...

San Francisco, CA (AP) -- The parents of American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh are asking President George W. Bush to set their son free before Bush leaves office next month.

He's a gentle man, lean and soft-spoken, careful to begin his lecture with an explanation of principles like the right to counsel. The passion in Frank Lindh builds only when he describes the details of what happened to his son, John Walker Lindh, the bearded young man who was tagged as the American Taliban. In the waning days of George Bush's administration, the senior Lindh is asking the president to commute the rest of his son's 20-year sentence, now seven years along. It's almost certainly a hopeless quest. Bush is not a man prone to second-guess himself. ... In retrospect,...

The father of John Walker Lindh, who has spent nearly seven years in federal prison for serving in an Afghan army, told a room full of law students at University of San Francisco on Wednesday his son has been used as a scapegoat for the faults of the U.S. government. Frank Lindh of Marin County spoke for the fourth consecutive year about how he believes U.S. troops in northern Afghanistan in 2001 illegitimately captured his son, known as an "American Taliban," for fighting as a Taliban soldier just after the Sept. 11 attacks. Frank Lindh said he believes his son...

War On Terror: After 9/11, Pakistan promised to close its radical madrassas as part of anti-terror reforms. Now we learn they're not only still open, but also recruiting and brainwashing American boys.All told, 600 American children are being indoctrinated into jihad in 22 madrassas across Pakistan. A U.S. filmmaker stumbled on them while tracing the path of the London suicide bombers. He discovered they attended the same radical Islamic schools. A congressional delegation has confirmed his findings. One particularly radical school in Karachi freely displays a banner at its main gate urging Muslims to join the Taliban. At least 80...

One email has really got me thinking. The best point of those who disagree with my earlier post on Walker/Spann is that Walker wasn't/isn't really a lefty. He's actually a right-wing religious zealot. Here's the case: "Maybe I missed something, but I am not sure how a religious fundamentalist and zealot like John Walker is an embodiment of the American Hating Left. He is a right wing religious nut just like the guy arrested here in Cincinnati last week for sending fake anthrax to abortion clinics. While you may be correct that his permissive parents and his multicultural context may ...

John Walker Lindh's lawyers and parents appealed to President Bush for the fourth time Tuesday to commute the Marin County man's 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban in 2001, saying the nation has grown less fearful since then and that others convicted of similar charges have been treated more leniently. "John Lindh had no involvement whatsoever in terrorism or criminal activity," his mother, Marilyn Walker, said at a news conference.... "Others have received a lot less in the way of a sentence even when they were convicted of a lot more," the lawyer said. Bush has not responded to...

James J. BrosnahanSenior Partner Primary Office: San Francisco Email: jbrosnahan@mofo.com Phone: (415) 268-7189 Fax: (415) 268-7522 Download vCard James J. Brosnahan is one of the nation's most respected and recognized trial lawyers, with expertise in both civil and criminal trial work. He was inducted into The State Bar of California's "Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame" in April 1996; was awarded the "Samuel E. Gates Award" by the American College of Trial Lawyers in October 2000; was named the "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the American Board of Trial Advocates in October 2001; was named "Legend of the Law" by...

The concept of mercy spans testaments and faiths, and any system of justice requires the embrace of mercy for leavening and legitimacy. In this case, justice has been served by Lindh's time in prison. Now Bush is uniquely positioned to grant mercy, for while many will long argue over the effectiveness of his war on terror, none question his commitment to it. By giving Lindh a commutation, Bush could prove that his war is, as he often and properly asserts, not against Islam but against those who seek to harm America. Lindh never sought to harm his country; he has...

[ article is excerpted ... click the link to read the article ] When John Walker Lindh appeared on CNN after his 2001 capture in Afghanistan looking unwashed and vaguely surprised, one of my first thoughts was: “I can’t wait to read his memoir.” Because Walker Lindh is under a gag order until his release from federal prison in 2019, that’s going to be a long wait. Similarly, Adam Gadahn, another California-raised Al-Qaeda operative, now wanted in the United States for treason, is too busy making stagy propaganda videos to sign any publishing contracts just now. Coming to the rescue...

Frank Lindh, the father of a man now serving 20 years in prison for “aiding” Taliban forces, will speak to CU-Boulder students on matters of human and constitutional rights Tuesday, Sept. 19 at Museum Collections W100 at 7:30 p.m. John Walker Lindh was apprehended November of 2001, and on Feb. 5, 2002 he faced 10 charges, including conspiracy to murder Americans. As part of a plea-bargain deal, John pled guilty to possession of weapons and serving the Taliban army. As a result, all other charges were dropped. John is currently serving a sentence of 20 years without the possibility of...

I bring you my boo-freakin'-hoo moment of the day, courtesy of Esquire writer Tom Junod's nauseating profile of John Walker Lindh a/k/a "Suleyman al-Faris" a/k/a "Abdul Hamid a/k/a "Hamza." Junod laments an order forbidding Lindh/al-Faris/Hamid/Hamza from speaking Arabic and describes his typical day in prison: At seven o'clock in the morning he goes to work in the library. It is not a job that most other inmates want, but it suits Hamza, because all Hamza does is read and study. He reads and studies so much that people have to stop him from reading and studying, and sometimes his only...

Frank Lindh, the gay father of John Walker Lindh, dubbed the "American Taliban" after being found in Afghanistan in late 2001, lashed out at the mainstream media and politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington during a fiery, and at times, emotional speech before the Commonwealth Club last week. Breaking a self-imposed silence about his son's case, Lindh gave the speech in order to reach out to the American public, which he said has been brainwashed by lawmakers, government officials, and sensational news coverage into thinking his son is a traitor to his country and an ally of...

SAN FRANCISCO: The father of an American jailed for fighting alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan said on Thursday his son had been tortured and unjustly punished amid public hysteria over the Sept. 11 attacks. “The maltreatment and imprisonment of John Lindh was - and is - a human rights violation,” Frank Lindh told the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco. “It was based purely on an emotional response to the 9/11 attacks, not on an objective assessment of the facts of John’s case.” A 24-year-old Californian dubbed the “American Taliban,” John Walker Lindh was captured in 2001 and jailed for 20...

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- After years of silence, the father of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Thursday to grant clemency to his son, who he says was wrongly maligned as a traitor and murderer. "In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest," said Frank Lindh, swallowing back tears at times during a speech at the Commonwealth Club, a nonprofit organization. Frank Lindh said that although his son had nothing to do with the September 11 attacks, they ended up adding dire consequences to...

After years of silence, the father of American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh said Thursday he has asked President Bush to grant his son clemency, adding that the then teenager never raised arms against the United States. "In simple terms, this is the story of a decent and honorable young man embarked on a spiritual quest," said Frank Lindh, swallowing back tears at times during a speech at the Commonwealth Club, a nonprofit organization. John Walker Lindh, now 24, was captured by American forces on Nov. 21, 2001, alongside the Taliban. Frank Lindh said his son thought he had been...

JOHNNY TALIBAN WANTS OUT Here's a name we haven't heard in awhile. John Walker Lindh...the 'American Taliban'...the kid from California that was captured in 2001 fighting for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan...wants to be released. If you remember, he was given a relatively light 20-year sentence for his actions. But now he wants out. They want President Bush to commute his sentence. The odds of that are about oh...slim and none. Little Johnny Walker is lucky he wasn't lined up against a wall and shot. You know, that's what they used to do a long time ago to people who committed treason....

The so-called "American Taliban" is asking the president again to commute his sentence. Lawyers for John Walker Lindh have renewed a Petition for Commutation, asking President Bush to commute Lindh's 20-year prison sentence. Lindh had originally asked President Bush to shorten his sentence in September of last year, saying his case should get another look after another U-S born Taliban suspect - Yaser Esam Hamdi - was released. In an appeal to the president filed yesterday, Lindh's lawyers say other defendants who have recently pleaded guilty to similar charges have received much shorter sentences. Lindh grew up in Marin County,...

American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh has asked President Bush again to reduce his 20-year prison sentence by an unspecified amount, Lindh's attorney said Tuesday. Lindh, now in his early 20s, wrote a first-person account to the Justice Department's pardon attorneys arguing why he believes Bush should reduce his sentence. Lindh's attorney said the document could not be publicly released under U.S. government restrictions intended to prevent Lindh from disclosing national secrets. Lindh, a native of Marin County, Calif., who is now imprisoned in southern California, was captured in Afghanistan weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. He pleaded...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Army investigators concluded that soldiers who photographed American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh in captivity in Afghanistan with an obscenity written on his blindfold were guilty of "barracks humor" but not intentional wrongdoing, according to documents released Tuesday. The investigators also found no evidence to support allegations that members of the 5th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Campbell, Ky., intentionally destroyed evidence or impeded a Justice Department investigation of the wartime treatment of Lindh, who denies having fought against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Lindh, a California native now in his early 20s, was captured in Mazar-e-Sharif...

Last week, John Walker Lindh  petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002.  It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for  Afghanistan’s former rulers.Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp – where he learned to fire an AK-47 and rubbed elbows...

SAN FRANCISCO — John Walker Lindh (search) asked President Bush on Tuesday to commute his 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban. His lawyer, James Brosnahan, said that Lindh was fighting alongside the Taliban (search) in a civil war against the Northern Alliance, that he is not a terrorist and that he never fought against U.S. troops. Brosnahan said the sentence should be reduced because Yaser Esam Hamdi (search), another American citizen captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of aiding the Taliban, is being released after being held for three years as an enemy combatant.

While the U.S. prepared to deport one of the captured American-born Taliban fighters, the other one asked President Bush yesterday to commute his prison sentence. John Walker Lindh's lawyer complained that his client was punished more harshly than Yaser Esam Hamdi, who is being deported to Saudi Arabia after being held for three years as an enemy combatant. "It's basically unfair to have John Lindh serve the remainder of his 20-year term," said Lindh's lawer, James Brosnahan. "It seems to us a matter of justice and, may I use the word, compassion." But compassion for Lindh was in short supply...

Filed at 2:14 p.m. ET SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- John Walker Lindh asked President Bush on Tuesday to commute his 20-year prison sentence for aiding the Taliban. His lawyer, James Brosnahan, said Lindh was a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time. He said that Lindh was fighting alongside the Taliban in a civil war against the Northern Alliance, that he is not a terrorist and that he never fought against U.S. troops. Brosnahan said the sentence should be reduced because Yaser Esam Hamdi, another American citizen captured in Afghanistan on suspicion of aiding the Taliban, is...

<p>LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - An inmate has been charged with attacking so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh in an incident at the federal prison in California where Lindh is serving a 20-year sentence for his involvement with militant Islamic fighters in Afghanistan.</p>

<p>VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) - John Walker Lindh, the American serving a 20-year sentence for helping the Taliban, has been transferred to a federal prison in this desert community northeast of Los Angeles.</p> <p>Lindh, 21, arrived at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Victorville on Saturday, under guard by federal marshals, authorities said. He had been held at a federal lockup in Virginia.</p>

In the post 9/11 world, words are read and heard with a different eye and ear. So when singer/songwriter Steve Earle performed "John Walker's Blues," (as in John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban who was arrested in Afghanistan and admitted he served with the Taliban), there were more than few raised eyebrows: "If my daddy could see me now - chains around my feet He don't understand that sometimes a man Has got to fight for what he believes And I believe God is great, all praise due to him And if I should die, I'll rise up to...

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Five American men charged Saturday with supporting terrorism trained to use assault rifles and other weapons at an al-Qaida camp in Afghanistan ( news - web sites) where Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites) spoke about his anti-American beliefs, authorities said. The men, all in their 20s and of Yemeni descent, appeared in court Saturday and were charged with unlawfully providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations. The judge entered an innocent plea for each and ordered the men jailed until a detention hearing Wednesday. The charges carry a maximum penalty of...

<p>THE BIZARRE CASE of John Walker Lindh, the young American who fought for the Taliban, achieved a legal conclusion last week when he pleaded guilty to charges of providing support to terrorists and carrying and using firearms and explosives during crimes of violence. Lindh will receive a 20-year prison sentence, of which he will have to serve at least 17 years.</p>

John Walker Lindh should have been hauled before a military tribunal. He probably would have been, were it not for the provision in President Bush's executive order limiting military tribunals' jurisdiction to non-citizens (a move thought by some to have been a preemptive strike against the Fifth Column's legal crowd). If Lindh had been tried by a military tribunal - whatever the specific charge(s) - given the facts, he almost assuredly would have been convicted. The death penalty was a distinct possibility. Instead, Lindh was transferred from military to civilian control, and put into the civilian judicial system. Once that...

On July 15, 2002, Taliban John Walker Lindh pleaded guilty to criminal charges levied against him for his association with the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Heralded as a "surprise deal" by the Associated Press, Lindh's capitulation was anything but a surprise — not to me, nor to readers of Front Page Magazine. Ever since Lindh was flushed out of that prison basement in Afghanistan, I've been predicting that he'd cop a plea because of the strength of the government's case and the lack of a defense. For example, in February I wrote a piece entitled "Reading Brosnahan's Mind," and said: The...

TALIBAN JOHN: THE NOOSE TIGHTENS Henry Mark Holzer If there has been doubt in anyone's mind about the nature of the government's principal case against John Walker Lindh, last week's court filing by the United States Attorney should have dispelled it. To understand the significance of what the government's motion papers said, it's necessary to remind ourselves about what "conspiracy" means in federal criminal law, and then about what the indictment charges Lindh with having done. Conspiracy is proved by evidence showing an agreement (which can be tacit, so long as it is clear) to do something illegal (e.g., killing...

TALIBAN JOHN: THE DESPERATE DEFENSE Henry Mark Holzer It’s obvious that despite its bravado, the John Walker Lindh defense camp is desperate. First, we saw two examples of “graymail,” a tactic used by defense lawyers in national security cases. The idea is for the defense to seek in the discovery stage of the case highly sensitive documents and testimony so that the government is put on the horns of a dilemma: comply with the request, and risk compromising important secrets (which the government, understandably, is loathe to do), or refuse to comply, and risk dismissal of the case (which the...