AP Appeals Lindh FOI Case

The Associated Press on Tuesday asked a court to reconsider its finding that a petition filed by US-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh seeking a reduction in his prison sentence can remain secret.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month rejected the news organization's request for any commutation petitions filed by Lindh, who is serving 20 years in prison for helping terrorists. The court agreed with a lower court that Lindh's privacy interests outweigh any public interest served by releasing the information.

The AP asked that the original panel reconsider its finding or that the full appeals court hear its Freedom of Information Act request. It said the petition was "a firsthand account of government actions and a critique of their fairness, the release of which would illuminate past government conduct."