In part of a "long-running campaign to clear his son's name ", Frank Lindh, father of noted Taliban supporter John Walker Lindh, spoke to law students at University of San Francisco on Wednesday. According to Frank, his son, now 30, "spends his days studying ancient Islamic texts and is earning a liberal arts degree at Indiana University."
"He's a very calm and centered person," Frank Lindh said. "He's very spiritual. He does his daily prayers. He's an observant Muslim. We talk heart to heart a lot."
John is currently imprisoned at Terre Haute, Indiana federal prison "that holds mostly Muslim inmates whose communications with the outside world are restricted."
Although he was raised Catholic, John Walker Lindh converted to Islam in a Mill Valley at age 16. According to the Bay Citizen, he the drastic switch in faith was inspired by seeing Spike Lee's (tedious) Malcolm X. In 2001, John was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States invasion of Afghanistan.
In 2002, John pleaded guilty to aiding the now disbanded Taliban government. "He had been charged with conspiring to kill Americans and support terrorists, but those charges were dropped in a plea agreement."