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Lindh's father speaks out in his defense

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Published: Jan. 20, 2006 at 9:38 AM

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- The father of "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh has blasted his son's "shameful" treatment and said he was no traitor.

"He was treated in a way that was shameful to our country," Frank Lindh told a lunchtime crowd at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

Sometimes bristling with rage, other times near tears, Frank Lindh said his son had been unfairly smeared as a terrorist from the moment he was captured in November 2001 with Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan to the time he was convicted of non-terrorism charges in July 2002.

The smearing came from politicians and the media, he said, and there is still much misunderstanding about the 24-year-old federal inmate, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

"He never fought against America," Lindh said. "He was simply rescued. He was absolutely not a traitor."

A federal judge in Virginia sentenced John Lindh to 20 years in prison for aiding the Taliban contrary to U.S. economic sanctions.

Topics: John Walker, John Walker Lindh
© 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

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