'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh was released from an Indiana prison Thursday after serving 17 years of a 20 year sentence for supplying services to a terrorist organization and carrying an explosive device.

Lindh, 38, is believed to have walked free from the medium security federal prison FCI Terre Haute just after midnight local time and was met by his mother Marilyn Walker, 68.

The convicted terrorist is now thought to be traveling to Virginia where he is expected to live while serving a three-year probation term. He adopted the name Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi while in prison. Al-Irlandi means the Irish man.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Lindh's release and his attorney told the Washington Post that the terrorist was free.

Lindh, who was revealed on Wednesday to have said in 2015 that ISIS is 'doing a great job', has been handed a tranche of additional conditions including a total ban on using the internet.

Freed: This is believed to be the moment John Walker left Terra Haute federal prison with what is thought to be his mother

End of detention: John Walker's attorney said that he is now free and will live near Washington D.C. under the supervision of federal probation officers

End of the road: The man thought to be John Walker Lindh - who calls himself Abu Sulayman al-Irlandi - left in a white sedan just after midnight from the Terra Haute federal prison

'American Taliban' John Walker Lindh has been released from a federal prison after serving 17 years of a 20 year sentence for supplying services to a terrorist organization and carrying an explosive device

The Arabic speaker is not allowed to have an internet-capable device without prior permission, nor communicate online in any language other than English.

He is also banned from possessing, viewing or accessing any extremist or terrorist material, is forbidden from communicating with any known extremists and cannot leave the US without permission.

Lindh must also undergo regular mental health counseling.

His release brought objections from elected officials who asked why Lindh was being freed early and what training parole officers had to spot radicalization and recidivism among former jihadists.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Lindh's release 'unexplainable and unconscionable.'

Pompeo told Fox News on Thursday morning that Lindh "still is threatening the United states of America, still committed to the very jihad that he engaged in that killed a great American and a great CIA officer.

'There's something deeply troubling and wrong about it.'

The 38-year-old was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in November 2001 and failed to warn U.S. forces of a planned uprising at the Qala-i-Jangi jail in Balkh where he was being held.

During the uprising on November 25, CIA operative Johnny 'Mike' Spann was killed while Lindh himself was injured. Spann, an Alabama father-of-three, had questioned Lindh on arrival but the convicted terrorist chose not to warn him of the Taliban prisoners' plans.

He was recaptured after the uprising and transferred to the U.S. for trial - eventually pleading guilty to supplying services to the Taliban and possessing firearms and explosives while carrying out a felony.

He was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001 and failed to warn U.S. forces of a planned uprising at the Qala-i-Jangi jail where he was being held. Lindh is pictured being treated at an Army base hospital following the uprising that resulted in him being injured

Lindh was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001. He is pictured being led away by a Northern Alliance soldier following his capture

Spann's daughter Alison said releasing Lindh was a slap in the face for her family.

'He is getting released early because of his good behavior in prison. For my family, terrorism does not equal good behavior,' she told ABC News.

Meanwhile Spann's father Johnny Spann had urged President Trump to intervene.

'Don't turn him loose if there's reports out here that he's not being the model prisoner that ya'll say he is,' he said.

Spann's father was referring to reports, including a 2017 investigation by Foreign Policy magazine and documents composed by the National Counterterrorism Center, that said Lindh 'continued to advocate for global jihad' as of May 2016.

The documents also claimed that Lindh said he would 'continue to spread violent extremist Islam on his release' and had praised the activities of Islamic State.

Lindh expressed remorse for his actions during his 2002 trial, telling court that 'I have never supported terrorism in any form and I never will.

'I made a mistake by joining the Taliban. Had I realized then what I know now, I never would have joined them.'

'Senators Richard Shelby and Margaret Hassan wrote to the Federal Bureau of Prisons last week to question the decision to release him and ask what strategies have been put in place to stop him from causing further harm.

On Wednesday, Florida Republican Rep. Michael Waltz, a former Green Beret who served in Afghanistan, described him as a 'traitor' and said he 'should be in prison for life'.

Waltz added: 'We're calling on the Federal Bureau of Prisons to explain why he is being released early, and then we are calling on law enforcement authorities to be watching him extremely closely.

'We need to keep a close eye on him.'

Lindh is believed to have walked free from the medium security federal prison FCI Terre Haute in Indiana (above) just after midnight local time on Thursday

Lindh (pictured before one of his court appearances in Virginia in 2002) has spent the last 17 years in jail after pleading guilty to providing support to the Taliban

Lindh has spent the last 17 years in jail, beginning with a stint at US Penitentiary Victorville - a high security jail 40 miles north east of Los Angeles.

The 38-year-old was then transferred to ADX Florence in Colorado – a supermax penitentiary nicknamed 'the Alcatraz of the Rockies'. The facility is known for its large population of terrorist inmates, among them 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and radical cleric Abu Hamza.

Other prisoners include Ramzi Yousef, who took part in the 1994 World Trade Center bombing, and 'Shoe Bomber' Richard Reid.

Lindh completed the rest of his sentence inside FCC Terre Haute in Indiana, a medium security lock-up which has a connected low-security work camp.

According to the inmates' handbook, prisoners are banned from possessing more than 25 letters at a time, cannot have any sort of semi-clad or nude photo in their possession and may not wear jewelry apart from wedding bands and plain religious necklaces.

Inmates cannot wear civilian clothing and must wear prison-issue khaki pants and a plain brown short-sleeve t-shirt instead. Some, Lindh among them, are kept in the Communication Management Unit, where all forms of outside contact, including calls and email, are severely restricted and monitored.

Lindh, who obtained an Irish passport in 2013, is thought to want to move to Ireland but will be unable to do so for at least three years because of his probation conditions.

He is likely to live instead with his father Frank, a college lecturer from San Rafael, California, or with his mother Marilyn, who lives in Silver Springs, Maryland. The former couple have been publicly supportive of their son and expressed surprise after he was first captured.

They have been regular visitors to Terre Haute, telling GQ in a 2009 interview that they saw their son once a month and that he spent most of his time in jail studying the Koran.

Neither responded to requests for comment from DailyMail.com. Lindh's older brother Connell, 41, of Seattle, Washington, did not respond to calls and messages.