'American Taliban' will not face death penalty

The US government will not seek the death penalty for the alleged American Taliban John Walker Lindh.

Lindh will instead be charged with one count of conspiracy to kill an American citizen and other crimes.

He will be charged with two counts of providing material aid to a terrorist organisation and one count of prohibited transactions with a terrorist organisation.

The charges could subject Lindh to life in prison but he won't face the death penalty.

It is not known whether the first count was connected with the death of CIA officer Johnny "Mike" Spann. He was killed during a riot of prisoners in Mazar-e-Sharif.

Lindh was among the prisoners and had been questioned by Spann shortly before the uprising.

Lindh, 20, was captured in November fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He was taken into custody by US forces after a prison uprising at a fortress in Mazar-e-Sharif. Lindh since then has been held on the amphibious attack ship USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea.

A baptised Roman Catholic who converted to Islam at 16, Lindh sent a letter to his parents in December saying he was safe and regretted not contacting them sooner.

He apparently dictated the letter, dated December 3, to an International Red Cross volunteer. Raised in California, Lindh traveled abroad to study Islam and later joined forces with the Taliban.