WASHINGTON — Iranian authorities have yet to respond to a February letter from the former heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali asking for the release of two young Americans held on spying charges, RFE/RL’s Radio Farda reports.
Ali wrote to Supreme Leader Ayatolllah Ali Khamenei asking him to release Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer, who were arrested in July 2009 near the Iran-Iraq border along with a third American, Sarah Shourd.
The three said they were hiking in northern Iraq and if they crossed the border they did so unintentionally. But Iran has put the three on trial for espionage — Shourd in absentia, after she returned home to the United States in September.
Ali’s wife, Yolanda, told Radio Farda on March 31 there has been no response to Ali’s letter so far, but that the couple remains hopeful.
