U.S.-Born Taliban Fighter Wins Prison Prayer Lawsuit

An American convicted of fighting alongside the Taliban must be allowed to pray daily in a group with other Muslim inmates at his high-security prison in Indiana, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Barring John Walker Lindh and his fellow Muslims from engaging in daily group ritual prayer violates a 1993 law that bans the government from curtailing religious speech without showing a compelling interest, U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson ruled.

The judge blocked the prison from enforcing its ban on daily group prayer, but she noted that her ruling does not prohibit the prison from taking less restrictive security measures.

U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett, whose office represented the prison, said Friday that prosecutors were considering their next step, including a possible appeal.

“This case deals with critically important issues that have significance both inside and outside the walls of our federal prison facilities,” Hogsett said. “Our concern continues to be the safety and security of both our federal prison system and the United States of America.”

Ken Falk, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which represented Lindh, noted Friday that witnesses testified prisoners were allowed for many years to pray daily outside their cells, “and it never caused any problem.”

“I think the court correctly noted that security is a primary concern, but that it’s not sufficient for the government to claim a security concern without having evidence of it,” Falk said.

Group prayers had been allowed once a week in the prison unit where Lindh was housed, the Communications Management Unit in Terre Haute, Ind. But at other times, inmates had to pray alone in their cells.

Lindh said that didn’t meet the Koran’s requirements and that the Hanbali school of Islam to which he adheres requires him to pray daily with other Muslims.

But prison officials said the same restrictions applied to all inmates, and that meeting Lindh’s demands would be dangerous, unaffordable and unfair. Government witnesses testified that Muslims, who make up the majority of inmates in the unit, have operated like a gang under the guise of religious activity.

Lindh is serving a 20-year sentence for aiding the Taliban during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.