Iraqi shoe thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi wants to sue George W Bush

THE Iraqi journalist who was jailed for throwing his shoes at George W Bush says he wants to move to Switzerland and rally Iraqis to take the ex-US president to court.

"I really want to go to Switzerland because it is a neutral country and because it is a country that did not support the occupation of Iraq," Muntazer al-Zaidi told TSR television in an interview broadcast overnight.

"Switzerland hosts many international organisations, including some that fight for children, and Switzerland is a country that has a great democratic tradition. It is an example for the world," he said in an interview taped on Thursday from an undisclosed location.

Mr Zaidi, who says he was tortured while in prison, was freed last week after being jailed for nine months for hurling the shoes at Mr Bush last December during a Baghdad press conference one month before he stood down as US president.

His employer, Al-Baghdadia TV station in Baghdad, and a family member have said that Mr Zaidi had left Iraq for Syria and would travel on to Greece for medical treatment.

Mr Zaidi told TSR that he wants to launch a "vast operation" to rally Iraqi families in order to lodge a legal complaint against Bush.

Mr Bush and his collaborators should face trial in an international tribunal for "war crimes committed during the occupation of Iraq," he said.

Mr Zaidi told the Swiss broadcaster that he was beaten with metal bars, tortured with electric cables and endured simulated drowning during his detention.

A lawyer in Geneva said in February that he had lodged a political asylum application on Mr Zaidi's behalf. But one of Mr Zaidi's brothers had denied this at the time, calling it a "lie."

The newsman was initially sentenced to three years for assaulting a foreign head of state, but had this reduced to one year on appeal. His sentence was cut further for good behaviour.

Source: The Australian

Shoe thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi to be treated for torture effects after early release

Richard Kerbaj

THE Iraqi reporter who threw two shoes at George W. Bush during the former US president's farewell press conference was freed last night after nine months in prison.

Muntazer al-Zaidi has been behind bars ever since he shouted "It is the farewell kiss, you dog", at Mr Bush on December 14 last year, then hurled his size-10s at the man who ordered Iraq be invaded and occupied 6 1/2 years ago.

Mr Zaidi's three-year sentence for assault was cut to one year on appeal because he had no criminal record. He was released three months early for good behaviour.

The 30-year-old's eldest brother, Uday, claimed yesterday that prison doctors repeatedly injected "unknown substances" into his body, and that he was burnt with cigarettes and had his nose and ribs broken.

Uday said hospital specialists in Greece were expecting the reporter's arrival after his visa was recently approved.

"We decided as a family for him to go for physical and psychological treatment in Greece," Uday said at his brother's flat in central Baghdad. One of Mr Zaidi's three brothers will accompany him.

Uday alleged that his brother, a television journalist, was given injections by prison staff against his will. He said doctors told his brother they were treating him for migraines and stress.

Mr Zaidi was imprisoned at an Iraqi military compound at the former al-Muthanna airport in Baghdad. Uday said his brother had been burned with "cigarettes behind his ears, had his ribs and nose broken".

He said the torture was the result of Mr Zaidi's refusal to write and sign a letter of apology to Mr Bush and to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was standing next to Mr Bush during the incident.

The attack made Mr Zaidi a hero across parts of the Arab and Muslim world, where shoe-throwing is considered a very grave insult. Although Mr Bush, who successfully ducked to avoid the speeding footwear, laughed off the attack, the incident caused acute embarrassment to him and Mr Maliki.

Mr Zaidi's boss at al-Baghdadia Television has promised the previously little-known reporter a new home as a reward for loyalty and the publicity that his actions generated for the station.

There was also talk of plum job offers from bigger Arab networks, lavish gifts such as sports cars from businessmen, guaranteed celebrity status, and reports that many Arab women want his hand in marriage.

But Mr Zaidi did not wish to return to journalism, nor enter politics, and planned instead to set up a human rights group, his brother said.

"He wants to do something to help the Iraqi people," Uday said. "And he has done more to help Iraqi people with his defiance than any politician has."

Source: The Australian

Bush shoe-thrower jailed for three years

BAGHDAD: AN Iraqi court has jailed for three years the journalist who shot to fame in the Arab world for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, a 30-year-old television journalist, had pleaded not guilty at the hearing in the Iraq Central Criminal Court to assaulting Bush during his farewell visit to Iraq last year.

"He was sentenced to three years in jail," defence lawyer Yahia Attabi told reporters outside the Baghdad court.

"We expected the decision because under the Iraqi criminal code he was charged with assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit," Attabi said, adding: "We will appeal this decision."

Zaidi, whose shoe-hurling gesture is considered a grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world, had risked up to 15 years in jail on the charge of aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit.

The former US president, deeply unpopular in the Arab world for ordering the 2003 invasion of Iraq, had been at a globally-televised media conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki when Zaidi let rip with his shoes, zinging them at Bush, who managed to duck just in time.

When Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie asked Zaidi if he was innocent, the journalist responded: "Yes, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi (would have done)."

After the verdict, his 25-strong defence team emerged to scenes of chaos outside the court, where several family members screamed: "It's an American court... sons of dogs."

Wearing a light-brown suit, brown sweatshirt and thin-framed glasses, Zaidi had been brought into the packed courtroom under a heavy police escort.

Chief defence lawyer Ehiya al-Sadi had argued that his client's motives were "honourable".

"He was only expressing his feelings. What he could see was the blood of Iraqis at his feet when he watched the US president speaking about his achievements in Iraq."

He also argued that although Iraqi law considered it an attack on a visiting head of state, "his throwing of the shoe did not cause any injury or damage.

"The president did not lose a leg or hand or finger. It was not an attempt to murder but an attempted assault.

"But it was not a real assault because he wanted to insult the president. The way he did it was buy throwing a shoe not a mortar or bomb.

"His goal was to insult Bush for the the pain Iraqis have suffered.

He asked for the court to consider Zaidi innocent and take note of the fact that he had already been in jail for three months.

The trial first opened on February 19 but was adjourned to determine the nature of Bush's December 14 visit. The judge told the court that government ministers had declared it official.

There was standing room only at the courtroom on the edge of Baghdad's high security Green Zone as some 200 family members, reporters and lawyers crowded in.

One of Zaidi's brothers, Uday, said he expected Muntazer to be found guilty, describing the trial as a "farce."

The Baghdadia television reporter told the court in February that he had been outraged and was unable to control his emotions when Bush started speaking at the December media conference.

"I had the feeling that the blood of innocent people was dropping on my feet during the time that he was smiling and coming to say bye-bye to Iraq with a dinner.

"So I took the first shoe and threw it but it did not hit him. Then spontaneously I took the second shoe but it did not hit him either. I was not trying to kill the commander of the occupation forces of Iraq."

As well as throwing the shoe, Zaidi also insulted Bush verbally, shouting: "It is the farewell kiss, you dog," before security forces wrestled him to the ground.

Zaidi said he had been beaten and tortured while in custody.

His brothers said they wanted to bring torture charges against Bush, Maliki and his bodyguards at a human rights court in either Belgium or Spain.

A Syrian lawyer said she was preparing to file a complaint.

Source: The Australian