U.S.-born Taliban tries to have statements dismissed

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The government violated John Walker Lindh's rights when it refused to fly the U.S.-born Taliban home from Afghanistan for a prompt hearing while allowing him to be questioned by U.S. interrogators, his lawyers said Tuesday.

Distance wasn't a problem, the attorneys said, contending the government showed no reluctance to wing entertainers to and from the war region.

Lindh's two written motions submitted to U.S. District Court stepped up efforts to persuade a federal judge to bar use of his statements to U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan.

One motion challenged joint questioning by a Special Forces medic and a CNN interviewer, alleging that a severely wounded Lindh responded under duress and was not read his constitutional rights. The second said a series of interrogations after his capture were illegal because Lindh should have been brought before a magistrate within hours after becoming a prisoner.

"If the government fails to bring a suspect before a magistrate within six hours of apprehension, any subsequent statements must be suppressed," one of the motions said. "While allowances are made for the distance to the nearest magistrate ... here, the government missed the six-hour mark by an astounding 1,314 hours."

Lindh was captured in November and turned over to U.S. custody Dec. 1. He was taken to the United States on Jan. 23. The defendant's statements about his travels to Afghanistan, his training and his enlisting in the Taliban militia are the basis for much of his indictment, the defense argues.