John Walker Lindh makes first court appearance

By Larry Margasak

Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – In his first court appearance, Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh told a federal judge “Yes I do, thank you” when asked Thursday if he understood charges that he conspired to kill his fellow Americans in Afghanistan.

Lindh, wearing a green prison jumpsuit, his previously long hair and beard shorn, stood straight with his arms at his side throughout the 15-minute hearing, glancing several times to prosecutors at his right. He never turned to look at his parents, sitting two rows behind.

In a sign of legal arguments to come, Lindh’s attorney, James Brosnahan, told reporters after the hearing that Lindh had “asked for a lawyer, repeatedly asked for a lawyer,” from Dec. 2 on, “and the officials who have commented on this case knew that.”

But Attorney General John Ashcroft said Lindh, 20, had signed a statement waiving his right to an attorney before he spoke to the FBI on Dec. 9 and 10.

“John Walker chose to join terrorists who wanted to kill Americans, and he chose to waive his right to an attorney, both orally and in writing, before he was questioned by the FBI,” Ashcroft said.

Defense lawyers already have said they would challenge the statement’s admissibility because an attorney wasn’t present. Lindh was recovering from a battle wound at the time.

During the hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Curtis Sewell also asked Lindh whether he understood the penalties, which could include life in prison.

“Yes I do, sir,” Lindh said in a quiet voice that could still be easily heard in the courtroom.

Lindh spoke a third time when the judge asked whether he understood that he would be kept in custody until a preliminary hearing, set for Feb. 6.

“No sir, I don’t have any questions,” Lindh said.

The young man’s parents, who saw their son for the first time in two years during a private meeting shortly before the hearing, asserted afterward that he is innocent.

“John loves America. John did not do anything against America,” Frank Lindh told reporters. “He is innocent of these charges.”

Lindh’s mother, Marilyn Walker, fought tears as she said: “It’s been two years since I last saw my son. It was wonderful to see him this morning. My love for him is unconditional and absolute.

“I am grateful to God that he has been brought home to his family, me, his home and his country,” she said.

Heavy security surrounded Lindh’s arrival at the federal courthouse here, just a few miles from the Pentagon, which was extensively damaged in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Snipers stood on the roof and armed officers were outside the building.

Lindh was represented in the courtroom by four attorneys, including Brosnahan of San Francisco, who told reporters he first met his client on Thursday morning for 45 minutes before the hearing.

“He was very helpful,” Brosnahan said of his client. “You can imagine that this young man was not fully aware of the intensity of the publicity.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Kelley said the government was insisting that Lindh remain in custody because of the risk that he would try to flee and because of his potential danger to the community. Sewell granted the request.

Brosnahan told the judge that Lindh did not learn the precise charges against him until the day before.

Sewell then set the Feb. 6 hearing to determine whether Lindh would continue to be held in custody.

Lindh faces four charges, according to the government’s criminal complaint. Those are engaging in a conspiracy to kill Americans in Afghanistan, providing material support and resources to foreign terrorist organizations, engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taliban and providing goods and services to and for the benefit of the Taliban.

Lindh was captured in November near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif after an uprising by Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners there. An American CIA operative, Johnny “Mike” Spann, was killed during the uprising.

Lindh left his country two years ago to study Arabic and Islam in Yemen, and then apparently went to Pakistan and from there to Afghanistan.

The government’s case against Lindh is built around a criminal complaint based mainly on his interviews with the FBI on Dec. 9 and 10 and statements he made in a television interview.

An FBI affidavit said that while Lindh was at an al-Qaida training camp in June, he “learned from one of his instructors that Osama bin Laden had sent people to the United States to carry out several suicide operations.”

When he learned of the Sept. 11 attacks by radio, Lindh told the FBI, it was his understanding “that bin Laden had ordered the attacks and that additional attacks would follow.”

Lindh, a Californian who converted to Islam at age 16, said he trained for seven weeks in an al-Qaida camp where bin Laden visited three to five times, giving lectures “on the local situation, political issues, old Afghan/Soviet battles, etc.,” the affidavit said.