‘American Taliban’ sues for Islamic group prayer in Indiana prison

Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi, nee John Phillip Walker Lindh,  is a United States citizen and Muslim convert  who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence for war crimes in the service of the Afghanistan's Taliban.  He was captured during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent Taliban prison uprising during which Central Intelligence Agency officer and great American hero Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed.

Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi, nee John Phillip Walker Lindh, should have faced a firing squad for his treason. He joined the jihad and actively engaged in the killing of US soldiers. He attended a lecture by Osama Bin Laden. Instead of rotting in a well-earned grave, al-Irlandi (and other jihadists) are expected to testify tomorrow in a trial over high-risk Muslim terrorists congregating together for "group prayer."

We know the prisons are a hotbed of Islamic activity and recruitment to jihad.

"American Taliban seeks group prayer in Ind. prison" AP, August 26, 2012, thanks to Dr. Laura

INDIANAPOLIS
(AP) — An American-born Taliban fighter imprisoned in Indiana will try
to convince a federal judge that his religious freedom trumps security
concerns in a closely watched trial that will examine how far prisons
can go to ensure security in the age of terrorism.

John Walker
Lindh was expected to testify Monday in Indianapolis during the first
day of the trial over prayer policies in a tightly restricted prison
unit where he and other high-risk inmates have severely limited contact
with the outside world.

Lindh, 31, a Muslim convert who was
charged with supporting terrorists after he was captured by U.S. troops
in Afghanistan and later pleaded guilty to lesser charges, claims his
religious rights are being violated because the federal prison in Terre
Haute deprives him of daily group prayer.

Muslims are required to
pray five times a day, and the Hanbali school to which Lindh belongs
requires group prayer if it is possible. But inmates in the
Communications Management Unit are allowed to pray together only once a
week except during Ramadan. At other times, they must pray in their
individual cells. Lindh says that doesn't meet the Quran's requirements
and is inappropriate because he is forced to kneel in close proximity to
his toilet.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which
is representing Lindh, contends the policy violates a federal law
barring the government from restricting religious activities without
showing a compelling need.

"This is an open unit where prisoners
are basically out all day," said ACLU legal director Ken Falk, noting
that inmates are allowed to play basketball and board games, watch
television and converse as long as they speak English so the guards can
understand.

"They can do basically any peaceful activity except
praying," he said. "It makes no sense to say this is one activity we're
going to prohibit in the name of security."

Joe Hogsett, the U.S.
attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said he believes
decisions about prison regulations are best made by prison officials,
"not by convicted terrorists and other dangerous criminals who reside
there."

"Mr. Lindh is allowed to pray in his cell; he's allowed
to pray wherever he happens to be as many times every day as his
religion suggests to him that he should," Hogsett said. "Where the rules
must draw the line is how often must prison officials allow prisoners
to congregate together?"

Attorneys for the government maintain
that Lindh's own behavior since he was placed in the unit in 2007 proves
the risks of allowing group prayer.

The government says in court
documents that Lindh delivered a "radical, all-Arabic sermon" to other
Muslim prisoners in February that was in keeping with techniques in a
manual seized from al-Qaida members that details how terrorists should
conduct themselves when they are imprisoned.

Lindh's sermon
proves "that religious activities led by Muslim inmates are being used
as a vehicle for radicalization and violence in the CMU," the government
claims.

Falk said Lindh's speech wasn't radical and was given
during the weekly prayer that inmates are permitted. He said Lindh was
not disciplined for the speech.

The self-contained unit in which
Lindh resides has 43 inmates, 24 of whom are Muslim. Inmates are under
open and covert audio and video surveillance, and except for talks with
their attorney, all of their phone calls are monitored. Prisoners are
not allowed to touch their family members when they come for their
tightly limited visits. They must speak English at all times except when
reciting ritual prayers in Arabic.

Without such tight security,
the government claims, the prisoners would be able to conspire with
outsiders to commit terrorist or criminal acts.

According to
court documents, daily prayers were allowed from the time the unit
opened in 2006 until May 2007, when Muslim inmates refused to stop in
the middle of a prayer to return to their cells during a fire emergency.

The
lawsuit was originally filed in 2009 by two Muslim inmates in the unit.
Lindh joined the lawsuit in 2010, and the case has drawn far more
attention since then. The other plaintiffs have dropped out as they were
released from prison or transferred to other units.

Thomas Farr,
a former diplomat who now teaches at Georgetown University and studies
religion and terrorism, said common sense suggests that the prison's
need for security would outweigh Lindh's religious rights.

[…]
He had been charged with conspiring to kill Americans
and support terrorists, but those charges were dropped in a plea
agreement. He is serving a 20-year sentence for supplying services to
the now-defunct Taliban government of Afghanistan and carrying
explosives for them and is eligible for release in 2019.

Read the rest.

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bb

11 years ago

What if they tell them they can have their group prayers as long as no Arabic speeches are made? Would they still be interested?

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Laminin Cross

11 years ago

Group prayer, otherwise know as Group Terrorist Training Session.
Throw them in with the sodimites!

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Guy Macher

11 years ago

You cannot trust a Muslim; this is ploy to conspire to do more damage. Mo spent a lot of time in a cave alone with his donkey. He told everyone he was praying.

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Perfected democrat

11 years ago

“Mo spent a lot of time in a cave alone with his donkey. He told everyone he was praying.”
Fast forward to 2012, the modern day replay in the White House; same scam, bigger donkey, but this one is getting it by choice …

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JacksonPearson

11 years ago

Praying Islamic style a la Taqiyya and Kitman would be more like it.

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Gleaner1

11 years ago

He should be discovered hanging in his cell.

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KKKK

11 years ago

i notice he has the backing of the ACLU. just goes to show whose side they are on. again.
and i donet think he has half the sufferign Asia Bibi a Christian woman imprisoned in so-called-Pakistan has.

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Robert Burkholder

11 years ago

The “American Taliban” -yet another real good reason it is more economical -and speaks the primary language understood by the Muslims– better to just kill them –than it is to try and accommodate them in prison.Prisons just do not understand the use of the term “NO” and as such our prisons are recruiting ground for Islamic Jihad. Even as
Communism (ACLU-Etc.) found genesis in American Prisons. Major Hasan and this “American
Taliban” serve a better purpose if they are dead– or in solitary confinement.Zero contact with anyone except their bloody Allah.

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Betty Pierce

11 years ago

I would not let them pray at all. if they can’t Pray to the Lord Jesus Christ no praying nothing to read except the HOLY BIBLE. and they have to put on white gloves to touch it. no prayer rugs. no hallah food. they did the crime let them do the time.they are to be punished. not coddle to. every time they open their mouth.and the ACLU needs to be destroyed if it is evil and against the law they are all for it.

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Betty Pierce

11 years ago

then run them out of the country on a rail with ob

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SUSAN LIEBERTH

11 years ago

As a terrorist and a traitor to our country,he doesnt deserve any rights. He lost his rights,when he plotted against his own country.Instead, I think this piece of scum should hand in public square.

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Tanstaafl jw

11 years ago

Islam is not a religion, it is a political system.

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Tom Billesley

11 years ago

Star Tribune Minneapolis/St.Paul – Associated Press Aug 28th 2012

INDIANAPOLIS – An imam on Tuesday disputed American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh’s claim that the school of Islam to which he belongs requires him to perform his ritual daily prayers as part of a group, even though he’s in prison.
Ammar Amonette, who leads a mosque in Richmond, Va., and who like Lindh, converted to Islam, testified that the Hanbali school to which they both adhere stresses that Muslims should pray in a congregation, but he said believes can be excused from their religious obligations if important work or some pressing reason prevents them from fulfilling them.
“The congregation is not considered essential by any of the four Islamic schools of jurisprudence,” Amonette testified. There could, however, be “deviant” schools of belief, he said.

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11 years ago

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