Lindh Continues Defense of His Incarcerated ‘American Taliban' Son

The Mill Valley Seniors for Peace are hosting a forum that features , the so-called “American Taliban” on Monday, March 4, 3 p.m. at the auditorium at the Redwoods Retirement Community, 40 Camino Alto, Mill Valley.

John Walker Lindh is a Marin native whose spiritual journey began in San Anselmo in 1993, grew deeper at the Islamic Center of Mill Valley four years later and took flight at Madrasahs in the Middle East. He was found in 2001 in the basement of the fortress of Northern Alliance leader Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had taken hundreds of Taliban prisoners into custody. Lindh was later sentenced to 20 years, believed to be a Taliban fighter opposing Americans and dubbed the “American Taliban," drawing scorn from much of the nation.

Now 30 years old, he is serving a 20-year prison sentence. Frank Lindh will describe his son's ongoing legal case and field questions from the audience.

The elder Lindh has gone public a number of times over the years, making his case that justice was not served in his son’s case. He details his son’s spiritual journey, leading him from San Anselmo in 1993 to the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Speaking at the University of San Francisco’s Law School in 2011, Lindh argued that his son was denied the fundamental rights of a U.S. citizen. Lindh said that after his capture, his son was put through horrible physical abuse and was repeatedly and publicly labeled as a traitor and a terrorist with ties to Osama bin Laden by high-ranking government officials.

“There has never been a citizen of the United States of America who was subjected to the kind of prejudicial commentary that my son was,” Lindh said at the time, referring to statements by President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft, among others that John Walker Lindh had ties to Al Qaeda.

Lindh has found some legal success for his son, as a federal judge ruled in January that he must be allowed to pray daily alongside other Muslim inmates. The judge blocked the prison from enforcing its ban on daily group prayer, but noted that the ruling does not prohibit the prison from taking less restrictive security measures.

Lindh joined the prayer lawsuit in 2010, three years after being sent to the Indiana prison. The suit was originally filed in 2009 by two Muslim inmates in the unit, but it got far more attention when Lindh joined the case. The other plaintiffs later dropped out as they were released or transferred from the prison.

Monday night's forum is free and open to the public.

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