Tearful US Taleban Lindh to serve 20 years

ALEXANDRIA - A US judge has sentenced a tearful and apologetic John Walker Lindh, the American captured by US forces during the war in Afghanistan, to 20 years in prison for fighting in support of the Taleban.

Before the sentence was announced today, Lindh apologised for his actions and told the court he regretted ever joining the Taleban and did not do so in order to fight America.

"You made a bad choice to join the Taleban and to engage in that effort over there," District Judge T.S. Ellis told Lindh as he pronounced the sentence.

Dressed in a green prison jumpsuit, Lindh tearfully read a statement for about 15 minutes, breaking down in sobs repeatedly as he apologised for his actions.

Under a plea deal hammered out in July, Lindh, 21, was spared a possible life prison sentence, and all terrorism charges against him were dropped. In exchange, he pleaded guilty to two charges of aiding the Taleban and carrying explosives.

The Islamic fundamentalist Taleban movement ruled Afghanistan for more than five years until its overthrow last year during the US-led war in that country.

Lindh had originally been charged with 10 counts of conspiring to kill Americans and conspiring with the Taleban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. The United States blames bin Laden and al Qaeda for the Sept. 11 attacks last year that killed more than 3,000 people.

"I went to Afghanistan because I believed it was my religious duty to assist my fellow Muslims militarily in their jihad," said Lindh, who converted to Islam as a teenager. "I have never understood jihad to mean anti-Americanism or terrorism. I condemn terrorism on every level unequivocally."

Reviled by some Americans who saw him as a traitor, Lindh, who became known as the American Taleban, was caught in Afghanistan in late November while fighting with the Taleban. He was handed over to the US military on December 1, 2001.

"I understand why so many Americans were angry when I was first discovered in Afghanistan," Lindh said. "I realise that many still are. But I hope that with time and understanding, those feelings will change."

"I made a mistake by joining the Taleban," he said, his voice breaking and halting. "I want the American people to know that had I realised then what I know now about the Taleban, I would never have joined them."

Lindh also said that while in Afghanistan he became aware of the relationship between the Taleban leaders and bin Laden.

"Bin Laden's terrorist attacks are completely against Islam, completely contrary to the conventions of jihad and without any justification whatsoever," he said. "His grievances, whatever they may be, cannot be addressed by acts of injustice and violence against innocent people in America."

Ellis noted that Lindh had told his interrogators he feared for his life and that is why he did not flee once he realised the Americans had entered into the fighting between the Taleban and the US-backed Northern Alliance.

He suggested Lindh reflect on why he did not take action despite knowing that future al Qaeda attacks on the United States were planned.

"You were willing to give your life for the Taleban but not for your country," he said, adding Lindh's actions were "not virtuous."

Ellis said he would recommend, as requested by the defence attorneys, that Lindh be ordered to serve out his sentence in a prison near his family in California.

Lindh's attorneys also said they feared possible misperceptions about their client due to the publicity surrounding the case and asked that Lindh not be treated as a terrorist.

"While the court is sentencing you to 20 years of incarceration ... the court is not sentencing you to suffer attacks ... from other inmates," Ellis said.

- REUTERS

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