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Lindh's Rights Were Violated, Lawyers Say
Tuesday, June 18, 2002
(8:03 PM ET)
By Deborah Charles
Reuters

In a separate motion, Lindh's lawyers said his comments should be thrown out because they were extracted by techniques condemned by the US Supreme Court.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Reuters
United States officials violated American Taliban John Walker Lindh's constitutional rights by holding him for 55 days without letting him meet a lawyer, and by subjecting him to coercive questioning while Lindh was confined to a metal box and in pain, his lawyers said.

As a result the court should throw out all statements made by Lindh during his interrogation in Afghanistan in late November and early December, Lindh's defence team said in a series of motions to the US District Court obtained on Tuesday.

Lindh's lawyers, who have already urged District Judge TS Ellis to throw out statements because he was never read his so-called Miranda rights, also requested that possibly incriminating declarations made by their client while in custody be suppressed.

Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian caught in Afghanistan last year while fighting with the Taliban, was captured in late November 2001 and transferred to US military custody on December 1.

Citing the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, his lawyers said comments made by Lindh in Afghanistan should not be permitted to be presented in court. The Fourth Amendment guarantees the right against unreasonable searches and seizures of evidence and the Fifth covers due process rights including the protection against giving self-incriminating testimony.

"In defiance of the law and with full knowledge that John Lindh had representation, the government intentionally prolonged bringing him before a judge while blocking messages from counsel," Lindh's attorneys wrote.

* Interrogated while naked
* Possibly incriminating declarations
(More: Independent Online News Source)
2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

Dan