Monday 6 June 2022 09:25 AM LeBron James urges Biden to bring WNBA star Brittney Griner home from 'hell ... trends now
Basketball great LeBron James has joined calls for the government to help bring Brittney Griner back to the US after being detained in Russia where state officials claim she was caught trying to smuggle hash oil into the country.
Phoenix Mercury basketball player Brittney Griner, 31, was arrested at Moscow airport on February 18 for allegedly bringing vape cartridges containing hash oil, which is illegal in Russia, into the country.
She was in Russia to play for UMMC Yekaterinburg on a reported $1million contract, but could now face up to 10 years in a labor camp for drug smuggling charges.
And now 37-year-old Lakers legend LeBron James has made a direct plea to the Biden administration to bring Griner home 'quickly and safely'.
On Twitter, the sportsman wrote: 'We need to come together and help do whatever we can to bring BG [Brittney Griner] home quickly and safely!! Our voice as athletes is stronger together.'
He then shared a flyer by campaign group We Are BG which is petitioning to get Brittney back to the US. It read: 'For over 100 days, BG has faced inhumane conditions in a Russian prison and has been denied communications with her family and loved ones.
LeBron James has joined calls for the government to help bring fellow basketball player Brittney Griner back to the US after being detained in Russia where state officials claim she was caught trying to smuggle hash oil into the country
'As a decorated Olympian and member of an elite global sport community, BG's detention must be resolved out of respect for the sanctity of all sport and for all Americans traveling internationally.
'It is imperative that the US Government immediately address this human rights issue and do whatever is necessary to return Brittney home.'
The Biden administration says Griner is being wrongfully detained while the WNBA and US officials have been working towards her release, without visible progress. The White House called her imprisonment illegal.
In early May, her case was handed off to the US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), which negotiates the release of hostages and other Americans deemed wrongfully detained.
The 37-year-old Lakers legend LeBron James has made a direct plea to the Biden administration to bring
