Shoe-thrower faces up to 7yrs

2008-12-17 11:30

Baghdad - The Iraqi journalist who became a star in the Arab world when he hurled his shoes at visiting US President George W Bush and called him a dog, appeared before a judge on Wednesday, his brother said.

Durgham al-Zaidi said he and another brother were told by the investigating judge that 29-year-old Muntazar al-Zaidi "had cooperated well," but gave no details.

Under Iraqi law, Zaidi faces up to seven years in jail for "offending the head of a foreign state".

Durgham al-Zaidi said his brother had been taken to Ibn Sina hospital in the heavily fortified Green Zone after being badly beaten by security guards and suffering a broken arm and ribs, as well as injuries to an eye and a leg.

He was unable to say whether Muntazer had sustained the injuries while being overpowered during Sunday's protest or after his arrest.

Supreme mark of disrespect

There was no immediate information about the journalist's condition on Wednesday.

Zaidi grabbed the world's attention on Sunday when he threw his shoes at Bush during the US leader's farewell visit to the country which was invaded by US-led forces in 2003.

He jumped up during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and shouted: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," and threw two shoes at the US leader.

Bush ducked both shoes and Zaidi, who works for private Iraqi television station Al-Baghdadia, was wrestled to the ground by guards after the action, regarded as the supreme mark of disrespect in the Muslim world.

The White House said on Tuesday it was for Iraqi leaders to decide whether to punish Zaidi, but that it had laid the incident to rest.

"I think the president believes that Iraq is a sovereign country, a democratic country, and they will have a process that they follow on this," spokesperson Dana Perino said.

"The president harbours no hard feelings about the incident. We've really moved on."

Asked if Bush would support pardoning Zaidi, she said: "Well, see, that would be in Prime Minister (Nuri al-) Maliki's bailiwick, and I don't know what their constitution says about pardon."

Lots of anger

Perino, who herself was sporting a bruise on her face from the shoe throwing, sought to downplay the incident.

"I don't think that you can take one guy throwing his shoe as representative of the people of Iraq," she said. "I know that there are people in Iraq who are angry, angry at their situation. It's been a very rough five years."

But she said Maliki and other Iraqi journalists "apologised on behalf of the Iraqis, saying this is not how they would treat a guest".

The US State Department said on Tuesday it would issue a condemnation if it were true that Zaidi had been beaten up.

"Well, obviously, we condemn any kind of unnecessary force used against the reporter. I don't know that that happened," deputy spokesman Robert Wood said.

Zaidi's action won him widespread plaudits in the Arab world where Bush's policies have drawn broad hostility, although Iraqi reaction was mixed.

In Iraq's parliament, Baha al-Araji, an MP with the Shiite movement headed by radical anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, demanded an inquiry into the "brutality" of the security guards.

But Sami al-Askari, a Shiite lawmaker close to Maliki, lashed out at Zaidi for what he branded a "shameful act which sullies the reputation of the media".

- AFP