Lindh's attorneys seek his release pending trial

Associated Press WriterALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- Attorneys for John Walker Lindh, the American who fought with the Taliban, asked a federal court Tuesday to release him pending trial on charges that he conspired to kill U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Lindh's lawyers, in written papers filed here, said there is no evidence "that Mr. Lindh is a flight risk."

The filing also contended that the government's charges, based on an FBI affidavit, are so weak that they are "insufficient to establish probable cause for the crimes charged."

Lindh was apprehended by U.S. authorities and Northern Alliance allies in Afghanistan in early December after a prison uprising, during which a CIA agent was killed. The 20-year-old was brought back to the United States by military aircraft on Jan. 23 and appeared in court the following day, with his parents looking on.

Lindh has been charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to kill Americans outside the United States, providing material support to terrorist organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida and contributing goods and services to the Taliban.

The government could supersede the complaint with a grand jury indictment.

A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday on Lindh's continuing detention. If he is not indicted, the prosecutors at the hearing would need to present evidence showing probable cause that a crime was committed. Since Jan. 23, he has been held in the city jail.

For his initial court appearance in Alexandria, Lindh had cut his long hair and beard. His parents came to the city from the West Coast to watch that court proceeding.

One of his lawyers, James Brosnahan, told reporters at the time that Lindh, known in Afghanistan by his Muslim name, Sulayman al-Faris, had asked for legal representation at the time of his apprehension but was denied that.

The government told the court the young man decided on his own to waive his right to counsel, before he was questioned, and chose willingly to join the Taliban and support Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist organization.

"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," Attorney General John Ashcroft said at a news conference.

In the filing, the defense team told U.S. Magistrate Judge W. Curtis Sewell that Lindh never intended to harm any civilian and contended "there is no evidence that Mr. Lindh made any attempt to engage in combat with United States military forces."

The motion said the government's affidavit in support of the charges acknowledges that Lindh retreated from the region of combat when U.S. planes began to bomb his area. He then was among a large group of Taliban and al-Qaida fighters who surrendered to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance.

Continuing to attack the government's complaint, the defense team said that Lindh spoke to the FBI under duress while he was "kept under heavy armed guard and given minimal food and medical attention, despite gunshot and/or shrapnel wounds and despite malnutrition and dehydration."

While the government's initial charges were based on that interview and statements Lindh made to CNN while in Afghanistan, Ashcroft pointed out that Lindh signed a waiver, agreeing to be questioned without a lawyer present during the Dec. 9-11 interviews in Afghanistan with FBI agents.

Brosnahan, the lead attorney, told Sewell in an earlier hearing that Lindh had been asking for a lawyer since Dec. 2 and contended the defendant's statements should not be admissible in the case.