For the first time in Northern California, Michael  Saldate, husband of Euna Lee and Ian Clayton, husband of Laura Ling will appear at a peaceful, community-wide gathering advocating for the journalists release. The gathering is being held at Morgan Auditorium (491 Post St. at Mason) in San Francisco from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, 2009.

Saldate and Clayton will speak to a crowd including students, faculty and alumni of Academy of Art University (Lee in an alumna) and a long list of local supporters. The present and past cast members of Hair, The Musical and Young Performers International have volunteered to perform. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and award-winning journalist and author (and California's First Lady) Maria Shriver have been invited to attend.

The gathering will be webcast live at www.academyart.edu/petition.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee are American journalists who were recently convicted of illegally crossing the border in North Korea and other unspecified "grave crimes" against North Korea. They were sentenced to 12 years in labor prison.

At the time of their arrest, the two had been working on a human trafficking story from the Chinese side of the border. They were on assignment for CurrentTV, which is headquartered in San Francisco, CA.