UNITED STATES indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of the 1975 killings of two FBI agents in South Dakota, was set to appear at a parole hearing today at a federal prison in Florida.

At 79, his health is failing, and if this parole request is denied, it might be a decade or more before it is considered again, said his attorney Kevin Sharp, a former federal judge. 

Mr Sharp and other supporters have long argued that Mr Peltier was wrongly convicted and say now that this effort may be his last chance at freedom.