Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali Calls for Iran to Release Detained Americans

Boxing great Muhammad Ali, one of the most prominent U.S. Muslims, joined other U.S. Muslim leaders on Tuesday in an appeal to Iran's supreme leader to show mercy and free two Americans held on suspicion of espionage.

Lonnie Ali, wife of the 69-year-old former world heavyweight champion, speaks on his behalf at a Washington news conference.

[Lonnie Ali, Muhammad Ali's Wife]: 

"We ask for their release, for their compassionate release and the mercy that they showed to Sarah, to show the same to Josh and to Shane, because they too are citizens of the world. If they will look at them as the world looked at Muhammad when he was a young man in the same fashion, wanting to experience the world, experience people." 

Ali wrote a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February, asking that "mercy" be shown to the two men.

Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested in July 2009 along the Iraq border.

The pair say they may have inadvertently crossed into Iran while hiking.

Their case has further strained relations between the United States and Iran, already frayed over Iran's nuclear program.

A third American, Sarah Shourd, was released on 500,000 U.S. dollars bail in September and returned home.

Shourd says the three Americans had made a pact to stay positive through their imprisonment and beyond.

[Sarah Shourd, Released American]: 

"When I was still in prison, Shane and Josh and I often spoke about how determined we were to come out better people with our love for humanity strengthened by long isolation. That is still our goal and each day that passes is a day lost for the work that we want to do to create a more just planet."

Family members of Fattal and Bauer say the men had been allowed to call home on Sunday and shared news of their hunger strike.

[Alex Fattal, Josh Fattal's Brother]:

"This is a humanitarian issue of the utmost urgency and it needs to be resolved. We heard recently in the phone calls that Josh and Shane have been on hunger strike for 17 consecutive days to receive letters. That breaks our hearts. We want them home and we want them home as soon as possible."

According to state-run television, Bauer and Fattal pleaded not guilty in a closed-door court appearance on February 6th.