'American Taliban' Lindh to leave prison next month

Recently filed court documents confirmed that the 38-year-old, dubbed "American Taliban", will be released from federal prison in Indiana on 23 May, even as the conflict in Afghanistan continues to rage.

Born into a Catholic family, Lindh converted to Islam while a high school student near San Fransisco.

Aged 17 in 1998, he traveled to Yemen to study Arabic, and then in early 2001, four months before the Al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, he traveled to Afghanistan to join Taliban forces in their fight against the Northern Alliance.

After 9/11, Lindh was captured and handed over to US forces and then sent back home to stand trial.

Prosecutors were hobbled by reports that he may have been tortured into confessing while in US custody.

They negotiated a deal in which Lindh would plead guilty to supplying services to the Taliban and illegal possession of a rifle and grenades while doing so.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, but his jail term has been shortened for good behaviour.

Documents filed last week with the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, where Lindh was tried, show that he agreed to restrictive conditions during a three-year probation period after his release.

Those include accepting that his internet use will be monitored continuously, that he cannot communicate online in any other language than English without permission, and that he will not communicate with extremists or view "material that reflects extremist or terroristic views".

Lindh, who was granted Irish citizenship in 2013 based on his grandmother's roots, will also not be allowed to travel abroad for the three years without express court permission.

It is not yet known where Lindh will go after he leaves prison.