US-born Taliban Fighter Wins Prison Prayer Lawsuit

(AP) US-born Taliban fighter wins prison prayer lawsuit
By CHARLES WILSON
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS
An American convicted of fighting alongside the Taliban must be allowed to pray daily in a group with other Muslim inmates at his high-security prison in Indiana, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Barring John Walker Lindh and his fellow Muslims from engaging in daily group ritual prayer violates a 1993 law that bans the government from curtailing religious speech without showing a compelling interest, U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled.

The judge blocked the prison from enforcing its ban on daily group prayer, but she noted that her ruling does not prohibit the prison from taking less restrictive security measures.

U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett, whose office represented the prison, said Friday that prosecutors were considering their next step, including a possible appeal.

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which represented Lindh, noted Friday that witnesses testified prisoners were allowed for many years to pray daily outside their cells, “and it never caused any problem.”

Group prayers had been allowed once a week and on high holy days such as Ramadan or Christmas in the prison unit where Lindh was housed, the Communications Management Unit in Terre Haute, Ind. But at other times, inmates had to pray alone in their cells.

Lindh said that didn’t meet the Quran’s requirements, and that the Hanbali school of Islam to which he adheres requires him to pray daily with other Muslims.

But prison officials said the same restrictions applied to all inmates, and that meeting Lindh’s demands would be dangerous, unaffordable and unfair. Government witnesses testified that Muslims, who make up the majority of inmates in the unit, have operated like a gang under the guise of religious activity.

During trial, the ACLU noted that games and some other group activities were not restricted.

Lindh is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the Taliban during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. He was captured by U.S. troops that year, and in 2002 pleaded guilty to supplying services and carrying explosives for the now-defunct Taliban government. He is eligible for release in 2019.

Raised Catholic, the California native was 12 when he saw the movie “Malcolm X” and became interested in Islam. He converted at age 16. Walker told Newsweek after his capture that he had entered Afghanistan to help the Taliban build a “pure Islamic state.”

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.

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Associated Press writer Ken Kusmer contributed to this report.

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