WASHINGTON/KABUL, 16 January —US fighter jets took time off from pounding Al-Qaeda caves in Afghanistan yesterday as the United States said it would try captured American Taleban fighter John Walker Lindh in US criminal court on charges of aiding and abetting a terrorist organization.
"He chose to embrace fanatics," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing the charges against Walker, a 20-year-old from California. The attorney general said conviction on the charges could bring life imprisonment.
Ashcroft said the charges against Walker included conspiracy to kill Americans overseas, providing support and resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations including Al-Qaeda and engaging in prohibited transactions with the Taleban. He said the Justice Department had not ruled out filing other charges.
Walker will not be tried by a military tribunal. President George W. Bush has said military tribunals will be used against foreign nationals and not American citizens.
Ashcroft’s announcement came as Britain urged US officials to uphold the rights of Britons being held among suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda prisoners. Britain’s concern was conveyed by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to US Secretary of State Colin Powell during a "frank" telephone conversation over the weekend.
Straw said that if Britain regarded the conditions the men were being held in as unsatisfactory, "we will say so," adding: "I made my own representations about this."
