John Walker Lindh, the American captured
in Afghanistan in 2001 fighting for the Taliban and vilified as
a national traitor, is to be released early from a federal
prison on Thursday while some U.S. lawmakers worry he still
poses a security risk.
Lindh, photographed as a wild-eyed, bearded 20-year-old at
his capture, will leave a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana
on probation after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence,
according to a prison official.
Now 38, Lindh is among dozens of prisoners set to be
released over the next few years after being captured in Iraq
and Afghanistan by U.S. forces and convicted of
terrorism-related crimes following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
His release brought objections from elected officials who
asked why Lindh was being freed early and what training parole
officers had to spot radicalization and recidivism among former
jihadists.
Leaked U.S. government documents published by Foreign Policy
magazine show the federal government as recently as 2016
described Lindh as holding "extremist views."
"What is the current interagency policy, strategy, and
process for ensuring that terrorist/extremist offenders
successfully reintegrate into society?" asked U.S. Senators
Richard Shelby and Margaret Hassan in a letter to the Federal
Bureau of Prisons.
Lindh's parents Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh did not
immediately respond to requests for comment. Lindh's lawyer Bill
Cummings declined to comment.
Melissa Kimberley, a spokeswoman for the Terra Haute prison,
could not confirm details of Lindh's release other than it would
be on Thursday.
U.S.-born Lindh converted from Catholicism to Islam as a
teenager. At his 2002 sentencing he said he traveled to Yemen to
learn Arabic and then to Pakistan to study Islam. He said he
volunteered as a Taliban soldier to help fellow Muslims in their
struggle or "jihad." He said he had no intention "to fight
against America" and never understood jihad to mean
anti-Americanism.
Lindh told the court he condemned "terrorism on every level"
and attacks by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden were "completely
against Islam."
While in prison, Lindh successfully lobbied to overturn a
ban on group prayer by Muslim prisoners.
A January 2017 report by the U.S. government's National
Counterterroism Center, published by Foreign Policy, said that
as of May 2016, Lindh "continued to advocate for global jihad
and to write and translate violent extremist texts."
Reuters