Former American Taliban to be released from prison still supports extremist ...

An American Taliban fighter who will be freed from prison after 20 years behind bars has reportedly refused to renounce terrorism and still supports the extremist group. 

John Walker Lindh, 38, will be released from prison in May, but officials say that the California native is still holding onto the same beliefs he had in 2002. 

Lindh was among a group of Taliban fighters who were captured by US forces in November 2001, just months after the September 11 attacks and the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. 

Hours later, 500 people were killed after Lindh's fellow prisoners staged an uprising and killed a CIA operations officer. 

Former American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh (pictured in 2002) has refused to renounce terrorism and still supports the extremist group. He will be released from prison in May

Former American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh (pictured in 2002) has refused to renounce terrorism and still supports the extremist group. He will be released from prison in May 

Lindh, who was 20 years old at the time, was one of only 86 people who survived the revolt.  

He was named 'Detainee 001 in the war of terror' and, in 2002, was convicted of supporting the Taliban and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

Lindh (pictured in an undated police photo) has spent the last 20 years behind bars

Lindh (pictured in an undated police photo) has spent the last 20 years behind bars 

In 2016, the National Counterterrorism Center found that Lindh was continuing to 'advocate for global jihad', according to documents obtained by Foreign Policy. 

He was also continuing to 'write and translate violent extremist texts', it added. 

The document also claims that in 2015 Lindh told a television news producer 'that he would continue to spread violent extremist Islam upon his release'.

During his sentence, Lindh filed two suits against the Bureau of Prisons so that he could continue practicing the tenets of Islam. 

In 2013, Lindh won the right for communal prayer. The following year, he argued that he should be allowed to wear his pants above the ankle. 

Lindh went to the Middle East in 1998. He dropped

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