A US judge today ruled that American Taliban fighter Mr John Walker Lindh must remain imprisoned while awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to kill Americans in Afghanistan.
Magistrate Judge W. Curtis Sewell rejected a request to release the 20-year-old Californian, siding with federal prosecutors who said he should remain in jail because he poses a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Following the ruling, the lawyer representing Mr Lindh criticised US Attorney General, Mr John Ashcroft, for using inappropriate language in his statement yesterday about his client’s indictment
Speaking to reporters outside the Alexandria court today, lawyer Mr James Brosnahan said the statement: "It violated the standards of the Department of Justice, of whom several of us have served in the past, and it violated the usual decorum usually employed by excellent prosecutors across the country."
Mr Brosnahan said Mr Ashcroft should focus on people who really did the harm to this nation rather than on attacking his client, an American citizen who was fighting to get a fair trial in his own country.
Mr Ashcroft yesterday announced Mr Lindh would be indicted on 10 charges, including conspiracy to kill Americans in Afghanistan, and commented that it was extraordinary to have to charge one of his country's own citizens with such crimes.
Reuters