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CNN Live Today

John Walker Lindh Due in Federal Court This Hour

Aired June 17, 2002 - 10:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The so-called Taliban-American John Walker Lindh is due in federal court at this hour. His lawyers are expected to ask for the case to be thrown out, but that is considered to be an unlikely result. We get more now from CNN's Bob Franken.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His lawyers want all of his charges dismissed, arguing that the so-called American Taliban is the target of selective prosecution.

JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: John Walker Lindh chose to fight with the Taliban, chose to train with Al Qaeda and to be led by Osama bin Laden.

FRANKEN: Lindh's lawyer says he was merely exercising his right to associate with unpopular and disfavored groups. But prosecutors call that absurd, saying the charges against Lindh involve violence, not expression.

Another defense point: Lindh's indictment came about only after consultations at the highest levels of government in a politically charged environment.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's working with the enemy, and we'll see how the courts deal with that.

FRANKEN: Prosecutors contend that in fact it will be strange for the president and attorney general not to take an interest. Lindh's lawyers argue that the government charge their client with crimes he didn't commit, offenses that are not really against the law, and actions covered by combat immunity, a well established principle of international law.

But U.S. attorneys cite the oft-repeated argument that Taliban fighters are unlawful combatants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALKER LINDH: The Taliban have separate ranks in the army. They have the Afghans, and they have the non-Afghans.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: This interview was conducted in December. The emaciated, injured Walker Lindh was plucked from the ruins of the deadly prison riot near Mazar e-Sharif, Afghanistan. His subsequent treatments by U.S. authorities have prompted his lawyers to try to suppress an alleged confession by Lindh, stating in a new motion: "He was repeatedly interrogated without any attempt to advise him of his Fifth Amendment rights, while being held in abusive and threatening conditions.

A hearing on that is scheduled for late July. Assuming the trial goes forward as scheduled in August, Lindh's attorney will seek a change of venue, because the Virginia courthouse is just a few short miles away from the Pentagon, a target of the September 11th attacks.

(on camera): Prosecutors are confident that defense attorneys will fail to convince the court that a fair trial is impossible, as they say, anywhere in the United States at this time.

Bob Franken, CNN, Alexandria, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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