SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The lawyer for an American sentenced to 20 years in a U.S. prison for fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan appealed to President Bush to lessen his sentence after a man in a similar case was freed.John Walker Lindh, 23, dubbed the "American Taliban," was captured during the Afghanistan war and was sentenced in 2002 under a plea deal.
His lawyer, James Brosnahan, said he had filed an appeal on Tuesday to commute the sentence after a long-held accused enemy combatant, Yaser Hamdi, was scheduled to be freed from the United States to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Hamdi, a U.S. citizen, was also captured in Afghanistan.
"I hope America can find it in her heart to forgive John," Lindh's mother told a news conference. "John has admitted he made a mistake when he went to Afghanistan in June 2001 to fight in the civil war between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance."
