Dec 18, 2007 7:14 pm US/Pacific
Marin County's 'American Taliban' Seeks Release
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
The lawyer and parents of John Walker Lindh, the American-born Taliban soldier serving 20 years in prison after his capture in Afghanistan, renewed their call to President Bush on Tuesday to commute his sentence and set him free.
John Walker Lindh, 27, a Marin County native, was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001 by U.S. forces sent to topple the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was charged with conspiring to kill Americans and supporting terrorists but pleaded guilty in 2002 to lesser offenses of supplying services to the now-defunct Taliban government.
Lindh had converted to Islam and went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban against the Northern Alliance in 2001.
"His only offense was serving in the army of Afghanistan," his mother Marilyn Walker said at a San Francisco press conference Tuesday. "He's admitted this was a mistake on his part."
"John had no involvement whatsoever with terrorism or criminal activity. He never fought against the United States," Walker said.
But the father of CIA officer Mike Spann, who was killed in an Afghanistan prison uprising where Lindh was captured, called for Lindh to serve his full sentence.
Johnny Spann of Wingfield, Alabama, said that his son interviewed Lindh the day before the deadly uprising. Spann said he believes that Lindh knew that anti-American elements in the prison were preparing to riot.
The elder Spann said Lindh had a duty as an American to come to the CIA officer's aid during the attack and didn't.
"He could have helped save Mike's life," Spann said. "He could have helped save the lives of some of his al-Qaida cohorts."
Lindh's attorney James Brosnahan said he filed a formal commutation petition with President Bush and new U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey. It's the fourth such attempt by Brosnahan, who brokered the plea deal and 20-year sentence.
Brosnahan said it was the best he could do amid the political climate immediately after Sept. 11. He said a poll of potential jurors at the time showed that 38 percent of the respondents thought Lindh should be executed.
"The mood of the country has changed dramatically," Brosnahan said. "We are still feeling the effects of 9-11, but we aren't as fearful as we were. I think the mood is better."
Brosnahan added, "He has served six years. Justice and fairness require that John's 20-year sentence be commuted."
Neither the president nor the U.S. Department of Justice have acted on the previous commutation requests.
Commutation petitions are generally reviewed by the Justice Department's pardon attorney, who then forwards a recommendation to the president.
Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said Lindh's original petition from 2004 "is pending" and said he could not comment further.
In contrast to a pardon, which erases a conviction, a commutation leaves a conviction in place but reduces the penalty.
Brosnahan said there is a "vast disparity" between Lindh's sentence and the treatment of two other Taliban fighters, Yaser Hamdi and David Hicks, who were also captured in Afghanistan in late 2001.
Hamdi, a former American citizen whose challenge to his detention went to the U.S. Supreme Court, was released after three years in custody without a trial and allowed to move to Saudi Arabia.
Hicks, an Australian citizen, pleaded guilty before a U.S. military tribunal this year to providing material support to terrorism and will be released in Australia on Dec. 30 after about six years in custody, Brosnahan said.
The attorney said Lindh was moved in late September from a maximum-security prison in Colorado to a medium security prison whose location Brosnahan declined to disclose. Lindh is not permitted to communicate with the media but is allowed visits from his lawyers and family members, Brosnahan said.
The attorney said he was submitting the new commutation filing because Hicks will be freed this month and because the holiday period is traditionally a time when presidents consider pardon and commutation requests.
Brosnahn said the family plans to continue renewing the petition.
"We don't intend to have John forgotten. We think this president or some other president will grant this commutation," he said.
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