WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- John Walker Lindh, the so-called American Taliban, has arrived in the United States and is being held for a court hearing Thursday at an adult detention center in Alexandria, Va.
"He has arrived and is being kept at a jail in Alexandria," an FBI spokesman told United Press International Wednesday.
He is accused of being involved with Osama bin Laden's terror network, helping Afghanistan's former Taliban rulers and endangering the lives of U.S. citizens abroad. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Lawyers say that on his first hearing he may be asked to confirm his identity and confirm that he understands charges against him.
Walker, 20, landed at Dulles airport under tight security and limped to a police vehicle with the help of two security officers.
His parents, Frank Lindh and Marilyn Walker, were scheduled to make a statement in Alexandria shortly after their son's arrival but later changed their minds.
The Alexandria court, where Walker is slated to appear on Thursday, is the same courtroom where Zacarias Moussaoui, 33, a French citizen of Moroccan descent, was charged with participating in the conspiracy that led to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Family attorney James Brosnahan told CNN Wednesday that the family had received a letter from Walker on Jan. 8.
"It is comforting to know that you have found a lawyer," Walker was quoted as saying in the letter.
Attorney General John Ashcroft said earlier this month that Walker had waived his Miranda rights to have counsel present and had agreed to be questioned by a special agent during his detention.
Officials at Camp Rhino, a U.S. Marines base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, told journalists earlier this week that Walker had shaved his beard and had had a haircut.
Although he had adopted two Muslim names during his two-year stay in Afghanistan -- Abdul Hameed and Suleman al Faris -- Walker entered the United States under his original name, John Walker. He prefers his mother's family name, Walker, to Lindh, which he got from his father.
A native of Marin Country, Calif., Walker migrated to Afghanistan after converting to Islam while still a teenager and studied at a religious school in Pakistan before joining the Taliban.
Walker was arrested along with other foreign Taliban fighters from the northern Afghan province of Kunduz in November and was taken to another northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Less than a week after his arrival in Mazar, he got involved in a prison revolt at the city's Qala-i-Jangi military fort and was wounded. He was one of those Taliban fighters who were interviewed by U.S. intelligence officials at Qala-i-Jangi before the revolt but reportedly refused to cooperate with them.
U.S. officials moved him to Camp Rhino after the revolt where he recuperated from a bullet wound sustained at Qala-i-Jangi and was then moved to USS Bataan. Tuesday he was taken from the Bataan to Kandahar, to begin his journey home.
