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'American Taliban' Lindh To Be Released From Prison Next Month


John Walker Lindh
John Walker Lindh

John Walker Lindh, an American who pleaded guilty in 2002 to fighting for the Taliban, is to be released in May after serving 17 years in prison.

Court papers filed this month said the 38-year-old, dubbed the "American Taliban," will be released from a prison in Indiana on May 23.

Documents filed last week with the federal court in the state of Virginia showed Lindh has agreed to restrictive conditions during a three-year probation period after his release.

Those restrictions include accepting that he cannot have an Internet-capable device without permission from his probation office, cannot view or access extremist or terrorism videos, and must allow the probation office to monitor his Internet use.

Lindh, born to a Catholic family, traveled to Yemen to study Arabic in 1998 and then moved to Afghanistan four months before Al-Qaeda's September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.

Lindh was captured by the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in December 2001, just two months after a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, and handed to U.S. forces.

In 2002, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban and carrying explosives in commission of a felony.

His jail term has been shortened for good behavior.

Based on reporting by AFP, NBC, and The Washington Post
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