Judge deciding US-born Taliban fighter's lawsuit

AAA??Aug. 30, 2012?4:18 PM ET
Judge deciding US-born Taliban fighter's lawsuit
By CHARLES WILSONBy CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press??

FILE - This Jan. 23, 2002 file photo provided by the Alexandria County Sheriff's Department in Alexandria, Va., shows American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh. Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., will try to convince a federal judge in a trial starting Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, that his religious rights are being violated because the prison deprives him of daily group prayer. (AP Photo/Alexandria County Sheriff's Department, File)

FILE - This Jan. 23, 2002 file photo provided by the Alexandria County Sheriff's Department in Alexandria, Va., shows American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh. Lindh, who is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., will try to convince a federal judge in a trial starting Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, that his religious rights are being violated because the prison deprives him of daily group prayer. (AP Photo/Alexandria County Sheriff's Department, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 24, 2002 file photo, with his head shaven and his stare fixed straight, American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh leaves the Alexandria Detention Center in Alexandria, Va., before dawn, on the way to his first appearance in a nearby federal court. Lindh is expected to testify Monday, Aug. 27, 2012, 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. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? A judge is now considering whether the rights of American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh are being violated because daily group prayers are banned at the Indiana prison where he's being held.

The government rested its case Thursday after a four-day trial in Indianapolis in Lindh's lawsuit. Lindh says the ban violates Muslim inmates' religious rights.

U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus Stinson didn't immediately rule, but gave both sides 75 days to submit final documents in the case.

Lindh says the prison policy violates a 1993 law that bars the government from curtailing religious expression without a compelling interest.

The government says the restrictions are necessary for security and religious fairness. The prison allows weekly religious gatherings.

Lindh pleaded guilty in 2002 to aiding the former Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Associated PressNews Topics: General news, Legal proceedings, Prisoner rights, Court decisions, Lawsuits, Religious issues, Religion, Social affairs, Social issues, Law and order, Human rights and civil liberties, Treatment of prisoners, Human welfare, Religion and politics

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-30-American%20Taliban-Prison%20Prayer/id-ee050894f1d746eb930751e4c43dec82

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