“American Taliban” John Walker Lindh has been released from prison - but will be prevented from fulfilling his wish to come to Ireland.
The terrorist was famously arrested in a shoot-out with CIA agents in Qala-i-Janga in 2001 – just months after the September 11 attacks.
He obtained an Irish passport but won’t be able to travel as he is serving three years’ probation.
Lindh, who is now 38, was released from Terre Haute in Indiana early this morning.
He had been sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty in 2002 to charges of supplying services to the Taliban and carrying explosives. He was released under strict probationary conditions.
Lindh revealed in letters from prison that he wished to travel to Ireland. His grandmother on his father’s side was born in Donegal.
Leaked US government documents published by Foreign Policy magazine show the federal government as recently as 2016 described Lindh as holding “extremist views”.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called his release “unconscionable”. He said: “There’s something deeply troubling and wrong about it.”
The Irish Government did not answer media queries.
