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John Phillip Walker Lindh (born February 9, 1981) is a U.S. citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan in November 2001. He was captured and detained at Qala-i-Jangi fortress, used as a prison. He took part in the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi, a violent uprising of the Taliban prisoners, during which the CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann was killed, together with all but 86 of the estimated 300–500 prisoners. Brought to trial in United States federal court in February 2002, Lindh accepted a plea bargain; he pleaded guilty to two charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison without parole. A convert to Islam in California at age 16, Lindh went to Yemen in 1998 to study Arabic for 10 months. He later returned in 2000, then went to Afghanistan to aid the fighters. He received training at Al-Farouq, a training camp associated with al-Qaeda, designated a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries. There, he attended a lecture by Osama bin Laden. After the 9/11 attacks, he continued to stay and fight after he learned that the U.S. was allied with the Afghan Northern Alliance. Lindh had previously received training with Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, an internationally designated terrorist organization based in Pakistan.〔(Original Indictment ) ''John Walker Lindh Indictment''〕〔(Statement of Facts ) ''U.S. Department of Justice''〕〔(Truth About John Lindh (speech) ) ''Frank Lindh''〕 Lindh went by the name Sulayman al-Faris during his time in Afghanistan, but prefers the name Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi today. In early reports following his capture, when the press learned that he was a U.S. citizen, he was usually referred to by the news media as just "John Walker". ==Youth, conversion and travels== Lindh was born in Washington, D.C., to Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh. He was baptized a Catholic,〔 and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. When he was 10 years old, his family moved to San Anselmo, California.〔 Lindh suffered from an intestinal disorder as a child. At age 14, his health improved. He enrolled at Redwood High School as a freshman. He then transferred to Tamiscal High School in the Tamalpais Union High School District, an alternative school offering self-directed, individualized study programs. While there, he studied world culture, including Islam and the Middle East.〔 Lindh left the school and eventually earned an equivalent of a high school diploma by passing the California High School Proficiency Exam at age 16. As an adolescent, Lindh participated in IRC chat rooms with the IRC nickname "Mujahid". He became a devoted fan of hip hop music and engaged in extensive discussions on Usenet newsgroups, sometimes pretending to be an African-American rapper who would criticize others for "acting black".〔(John Lindh Usenet Postings ) ''John Lindh''〕 Spike Lee's film ''Malcolm X'' impressed him deeply and sparked his interest in Islam.〔 Although his parents did not divorce until 1999, their marriage was in serious trouble throughout Lindh's adolescence. His father often left their Marin residence for extended periods to live in San Francisco with a male lover, as he had acknowledged he was homosexual. Frank Lindh said he and Marilyn had been effectively separated since 1997. In 1997, at the age of 16, Lindh formally converted to Islam. He began regularly attending mosques in Mill Valley and later in nearby San Francisco. In 1998, Lindh traveled to Yemen and stayed for about 10 months to learn Arabic so that he could read the Qur'an in its original language. He returned to the United States in 1999, living with his family for about eight months. Lindh returned to Yemen in February 2000 and left for Pakistan to study at a ''madrassa.'' While abroad, Lindh sent numerous emails to his family. In one, his father told him about the USS ''Cole'' bombing, to which Lindh replied that the American destroyer's being in the Yemen harbor had been an act of war, and that the bombing was justified. "This raised my concerns", his father told ''Newsweek'', "but my days of molding him were over." At the age of 20, Lindh decided to travel to Afghanistan to fight for the Afghan Taliban government forces against Northern Alliance fighters.〔 His parents said that he was moved by stories of atrocities allegedly perpetrated by the Northern Alliance army against civilians. He traveled to Afghanistan in May 2001. Tony West, his lawyer, explained it as follows: "One of the first things he told Army interrogators when they questioned him on December 3 of last year was that after 9/11 happened, he wanted to leave the front lines but couldn't for fear of his life. John never wanted to be in a position where he was opposing the United States (and never thought he would be), and in fact he never opposed any American military."〔("John Walker Lindh's plea with Tony West, Defense Attorney and Co-counsel" ), ''Washington Post'', 18 July 2002.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John Walker Lindh」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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