The widow of the assassinated American civil rights leader, Dr Martin Luther King, has called for the setting up of a commission to investigate the killing.

As the United States prepared to mark the 30th anniversary of his death in Memphis, Tennessee, Coretta Scott King requested a meeting with President Clinton to discuss possible new evidence and recent developments in the case.

Coretta King: plea to President Clinton

Mrs King said she would like to see an investigative commission with the authority to provide immunity and protection for anyone who comes forward to tell what they know about Dr King's death.

"My family and I are still appealing for justice," Mrs King said outside her husband's crypt in Atlanta.

Dr King, one of history's most revered advocates of non-violent social change, was shot on April 4, 1968, as he stood on the balcony of a hotel in Tennessee.

His family has pushed unsuccessfully for a trial for James Earl Ray, who confessed to the killing in 1969 but later recanted.

"I am very clear that it is morally wrong to make Mr Ray the scapegoat when he has never had a trial, and there is mounting evidence that others were involved," Mrs King said.

James Earl Ray: retracted his confession to murder

Mrs King was joined by her sons, Dexter and Martin III, and former UN Ambassador Andrew Young, who accused the authorities of being reluctant to test the rifle that Ray allegedly used to kill Dr King and for failing to interview people who claim to have information pointing to a conspiracy.

"Those questions have not been faced by the people who want to close this investigation," said Mr Young, a former Atlanta mayor and a Martin Luther King lieutenant during the 1960s. Courts have repeatedly upheld Ray's guilty plea.

Last year, Dexter King visited Ray, who is serving a 99-year sentence, and said he no longer believed Ray killed his father.

Martin Luther King: A martyr for justice

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