Trump wants to pardon Muhammad Ali, forgets boxing legend doesn't need one
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Friday he was considering granting a posthumous pardon to late boxing great Muhammad Ali, who refused military service during the Vietnam War.
Ali, who died in 2016, was convicted of draft evasion in 1967 and sentenced to five years in prison, but the conviction was overturned on appeal by the US Supreme Court in 1971.
"I'm thinking about Muhammad Ali. I'm thinking about that seriously. And some others and some folks whose have sentences that aren't fair," Trump told reporters at the White House as he was leaving for a G7 summit in Canada.
Trump described Ali as "not very popular" at the time of his refusal to serve in the military during the Vietnam War.
"He was, look, he was not very popular then, certainly his memory is popular now. I'm thinking about that very seriously, and some others," Trump was quoted as saying by the Chicago Tribune.
"The power to pardon is a beautiful thing," he added.
But while controversial, Ali's resistance on grounds of conscience made him a hero of the US civil rights and anti-war movements during a highly polarized period in US history.
A charismatic champion who won his first world heavyweight title in 1964, Ali was banned from boxing for three years as a result of his conviction but went on to reclaim the championship in a stellar career that lived up to his boast of being "the Greatest."
Ali's lawyer Ron Tweel later said that a pardon is not needed because of the Supreme Court's verdict.
"We appreciate President Trump's sentiment, but a pardon is unnecessary. The US Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Muhammad Ali in a unanimous decision in 1971," he said.
"There is no conviction from which a pardon is needed."
(with IANs inputs)