Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi to release the two American men Iran has been holding for almost two years.
So far, Khamenehi has ignored their appeal. No one in the government has responded to it and the Iranian media have largely ignored it.
The appeal was launched at a news conference in Washington May 24. Two weeks have now passed with no acknowledgement from Tehran.
The most prominent name at the news conference was Muhammad Ali, the retired boxer.
He and the others urged Khamenehi to show the Islamic spirit of mercy and compassion by freeing Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.
The others included noted religious leaders such as Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America, and Dr. Parviz Shah, secretary general of the Universal Muslim Association of America, plus leading academics such as Akbar Ahmed, the chair of Islamic studies at The American University in Washington, DC.
Imam Magid said, “As the American Muslim community, we appeal to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenehi, to release Shane and Josh on the basis of compassion and kindness, following the example of the Prophet Muhammad, whom God sent as mercy to mankind. Our hope is that the leadership in Iran will hear our call and reunite Shane and Josh with their families.”
In Tehran, officials ignored the appeal. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast responded by scoffing at the common description of the two men as “hikers.” Mehman-Parast said, “They are not hikers and the insistence of US officials and their friends, who try to identify them as hikers, is not acceptable. This is a joke interpretation of the world hiker.”
He brushed aside appeals by the Swiss embassy, which represents the United States in Tehran, for consular access to the pair. “Many innocent Iranians have been arrested and kidnaped by the Americans,” he said. “They are being kept under the worst conditions in US jails.… They have neither consular access nor contact with their families.”
Fattal turned 29 years old last Saturday. Bauer will turn 29 in a few months.