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Champion Boxer Calls For Release of US Hikers Held in Iran

   VOA News  May 24, 2011
   Boxing legend Muhammad Ali during a news conference at the National
   Press Club in Washington, May 24, 2011

Photo: AP

   Boxing legend Muhammad Ali during a news conference at the National
   Press Club in Washington, May 24, 2011

   American boxing legend Muhammad Ali headlines a group of U.S. Muslims
   who have called for the release of two American hikers detained in Iran
   since July 2009.
   Ali, frail with Parkinson's disease, appeared at a Washington news
   conference Tuesday on behalf of Americans Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal,
   jailed in Tehran.
   The 69-year-old Ali released a letter sent to Iran's supreme leader
   asking for the men's freedom. Ali's wife, Lonnie, spoke on his behalf.
   The appeal comes after the two hikers jailed on spying charges called
   their families on Sunday for only the third time since they were
   arrested in the mountains along the Iran-Iraq border. The hikers have
   pleaded not guilty to any wrongdoing.
   On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast
   insisted the men "are not hikers."
   The families of the men said the two men told them they had staged a
   17-day hunger strike in their Iranian cell after jailers started
   withholding their mail.
   Last week Laura Fattal and Cindy Hickey, the mothers of the two jailed
   hikers said they were fasting in solidarity with their sons.
   Earlier this month, Iran unexpectedly delayed the resumption of the
   trial for Fattal, Bauer and Sarah Shourd, a third hiker who was freed
   on bail last September.
   The hikers' lawyer, Masoud Shafiei, says Iranian authorities did not
   transfer Fattal and Bauer from prison to the courtroom. He was not
   given an explanation as to why the transfer did not take place.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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