Iraqi who threw shoes at Bush jailed for 3 years
Posted 3/12/2009 8:52 AM ET


This undated file photo made available Monday, Dec. 15, 2008, by his family shows Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi. The attorney for the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at then-President George W. Bush says his client has been sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting a foreign leader. Defense lawyer Mohammed al-Abboudi says the decision against journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi comes after a short trial Thursday March 12, 2009 in which al-Zeidi pleaded not guilty to the charge. (AP Photo, File)

By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at then-President George W. Bush was convicted Thursday of assaulting a foreign leader and sentenced to three years in prison, lawyers said. He defiantly shouted "long live Iraq" when the sentence was read.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi's bold act in December electrified many across the Middle East who consider him a hero for expressing his anger at a president who is widely disliked for his decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

The 30-year-old journalist pleaded not guilty to the assault charge Thursday, telling the three-judge panel that "what I did was a natural response to the occupation."

Reporters and family members were then ordered out of the courtroom for the verdict, which was relayed to them by defense attorneys and a court official.

Some of al-Zeidi's relatives collapsed after the ruling was issued and had to be helped out of the courthouse. Others were forcibly removed by guards after shouting "down with Bush" and "long live Iraq."

"This judiciary is not just," al-Zeidi's brother, Dargham, said tearfully after Thursday verdict was announced.

Court spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said al-Zeidi received the minimum sentence for the assault charge but could appeal the conviction. He could have received up to 15 years in prison for hurling his shoes at Bush during a Dec. 14 news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Defense lawyers said the judge showed leniency because of al-Zeidi's age and clean record. But they had hoped for an even lighter sentence, arguing the journalist's actions constituted an insult rather than an assault.

"The sentence was unexpectedly harsh," said Yehya al-Eitabi, one of some two dozen defense lawyers who attended Thursday's hearing. He said they would appeal the verdict.

His assessment was shared by some in Baghdad.

"Al-Zeidi should have been honored and not sent to prison," said Salam Omar, who owns a cell phone shop in eastern Baghdad.

The journalist has been in Iraqi custody since the shoe incident. Bush quickly ducked to avoid being hit and was not injured. Al-Zeidi was quickly wrestled to the ground by guards and dragged away.

During Thursday's proceedings, al-Zeidi, wearing a beige suit over a brown shirt and brown leather shoes, walked swiftly to the wooden dock where defendants are kept and greeted the panel of three judges with a nod and a wave.

Presiding Judge Abdul-Amir al-Rubaie asked al-Zeidi to enter a plea.

"I am innocent," he replied.

The proceedings took place under heavy guard with scores of armed policemen inside the courtroom and the Iraqi soldiers who escorted al-Zeidi waiting outside.

The trial began on Feb. 19 but was adjourned until Thursday as the judges weighed a defense argument that the current charge is not applicable because Bush was not in Baghdad on an official visit, having arrived unannounced and without an invitation.

Al-Rubaie read a response from the prime minister's office insisting it was an official visit.

Chief defense attorney Dhia al-Saadi then demanded that the charge be dismissed, saying his client's action "was an expression of freedom and does not constitute a crime."

He echoed al-Zeidi's testimony at the previous hearing, saying his client had been provoked by anger over Bush's claims of success in a war that has devastated his country.

"It was an act of throwing a shoe and not a rocket. It was meant as an insult to the occupation," the lawyer said.

The judge then turned to the defendant and asked whether he had anything to add.

"I have great faith in the Iraqi judiciary. It is a judiciary that is both just and has integrity," al-Zeidi responded.

Many people in the region -- angry over the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq -- have embraced al-Zeidi. They have staged large street rallies calling for his release, and one Iraqi man erected a sofa-sized sculpture of a shoe in his honor that the Iraqi government later ordered removed.

When al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush, he shouted in Arabic: "This is your farewell kiss, you dog! This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."

Al-Maliki was deeply embarrassed by the action against an American president who had stood by him when some Arab leaders were quietly urging the U.S. to oust him.

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/...2263.story

Iraqi clerics call for shoe thrower's release

Published - Mar 13 2009 07:54AM EST

By HAMID AHMED - Associated Press Writer

Shiite clerics on Friday called for the release of the Iraqi journalist sentenced to three years in prison for throwing his shoes at George W. Bush.

Sheik Suhail al-Iqabi, a follower of anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the sentence against Muntadhar al-Zeidi is "a verdict against the Iraqi people who refuse the American occupation" of Iraq.

Efforts to release detained Sadrists and others who have opposed the American presence in the country also should be expedited, al-Iqabi said in his sermon in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.

Al-Zeidi's brazen act during a December news conference by then-President Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero across the Arab world, where the former U.S. president is reviled for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

On Thursday, a court sentenced him to three years in prison on an assault conviction. Al-Zeidi had pleaded innocent and said his action was prompted by anger over Bush's claims of victory in a war that has devastated his country.

The speed of the trial _ which took two relatively brief hearings _ was likely to feed widespread suspicion among Iraqis that al-Maliki's U.S.-backed government orchestrated the process, although defense lawyers said they had no evidence of interference.

Another Shiite cleric in the Sadrist stronghold of Kufa also condemned the prison sentence.

"We just wonder on what law the judge has based his sentence. Was this verdict taken to satisfy their masters?" Sheik Abdul-Hadi al-Mohammadawi said during a sermon. "Why do you not try the Americans who are killing the Iraqi people in cold blood?"

The reporter's detention sparked mass protests in the Arab world and copycat protests elsewhere. But since December, demonstrations on al-Zeidi's behalf have drawn few participants.

Worshippers chanted slogans demanding the release of all detainees and burned American flags after Friday prayers in Sadr City in what has become a weekly protest.

Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, meanwhile, expressed concern about an uptick in violence after a deadly week in which Baghdad saw two of the deadliest attacks in months. The suicide bombings on Sunday and Tuesday killed a total of more than 60 people.

"The attacks that happened over the past few days represent a grave deterioration in the security situation and this issue should be reviewed," he said in a statement issued by the presidential council.

He said the three-member council led by President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, would ask Iraq's prime minister and the general commander of armed forces to summon senior security officials to find out how the attacks could have happened and to make sure they won't be repeated.

In violence reported by Iraqi police on Friday, a bomb exploded in the southern Baghdad neighborhood of Dora, killing a woman and wounding a boy.

A roadside bomb also struck a police patrol in eastern Baghdad, wounding four officers.

Amnesty International, meanwhile, called on the Iraqi government to stop the execution of 128 prisoners on death row, saying the country's judicial system is ill-equipped to provide a fair trial.

The international rights organization said the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council had informed it that authorities were planning to carry out the death sentences in batches of 20 per week.

At least 34 of 285 people sentenced to death were executed last year, while at least 33 of 199 people sentenced to death were executed in 2007 and 65 people were put to death in 2006, according to the group.

"Iraq's creaking judicial system is simply unable to guarantee fair trials in ordinary criminal cases, and even less so in capital cases, with the result, we fear, that numerous people have gone to their death after unfair trials," said Amnesty's regional director, Malcolm Smart.

___

Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

http://www.rr.com/home/home/article/1104...lease/100/

What about all of the women who used to throw their bras at Tom Jones in the 60's? Jail time in the offing?

(03-13-2009 09:08 AM)QSECOFR Wrote:  What about all of the women who used to throw their bras at Tom Jones in the 60's? Jail time in the offing?

Quote:throw their bras

Not the right piece of clothing. They threw panties and room keys at Tom Jones and, if rumor is correct, Tom accepted many of them. It is said that Tom and John Holmes had one thing in common.

I forgot! The sixties was when they burned the bras and threw the panties!

I think 3 years is lenient. Shoes from a stinky Iraqi's feet should be considered a chemical weapon. I think shoe bombs were a key component of their chemical weapons manufacturing plan prior to the Iraq war in 2003.