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Out of prison, shoe-throwing Iraqi scribe now fears for life
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 11:35:04 PM,
Baghdad:The jailed Iraqi television reporter, Muntadhar Al-Zeidi who grabbed world headlines last year for throwing his shoes at the former U.S. President, George Bush, has been released.
The 30-year-old Al-Zeidi who was warmly received outside jail said later at a press conference on Tuesday that his freedom could be short-lived as he feared for his life at the hands of American intelligence operatives.
“These fearsome services, the U.S. intelligence services and its affiliated services, will spare no efforts to track me as an insurgent revolutionary ... in a bid to kill me,” he said. “And here I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally.”
Al Zaidi also alleged of torture and beating while in custody. "Iraqi security forces also beat me, held my head under water to simulate drowning, then left me in the cold all night in the 24 hours after my arrest in December", Al-Zaidi said while speaking to reporters.
"At the same time Iraqi Prime Minister (Nuri al-Maliki) was saying he would not sleep until he made sure I was safe, I was being tortured in all sorts of ways," Al-Zaidi said.
"I demand an apology from al-Maliki for hiding the truth about my torture in custody," he said.
Al-Zeidi had a scarf in the colours of the Iraqi national flag draped around his neck. At one time during his interaction with the media, he said: “I am free again, but my homeland is still a prison.”
Earlier, his colleagues at the Al-Baghdadiya television and some Iraqi parliamentarians who had been supporting him received Al-Zeidi.
Al-Zeidi’s brother Uday Al-Zeidi said: “I wish Bush could see our happiness. When President Bush looks back and turns the pages of his life, he will see the shoes of Muntadher Al-Zeidi on every page.”
Al-Zeidi had been initially sentenced to three years for assaulting a foreign head of state, but his jail term was reduced to one year upon appeal. He was released three months earlier on grounds of good behaviour.
Al-Zeidi became a celebrity in the region overnight after he threw his shoes at former US President George Bush on December 14 last year and accompanied his footwear assault with the shout: “This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq.”
Al-Zeidi has reportedly been flooded with offers of money, jobs and marriage from across the region. His relatives claim the Emir of Qatar has even offered Mr. Al-Zeidi a golden horse as gift for his symbolic but uniquely powerful form of protest.
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Iraq shoe thrower to end sentence
Monday, 14 September 2009
Zaidi has become a hero figure across the Arab world
The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former US President George W Bush during a news conference is due to reach the end of his prison sentence.
Muntadar al-Zaidi, whose act propelled him to the status of hero in the Arab world, is expected to be released from prison shortly.
Zaidi, who called Mr Bush "a dog", was convicted of assault in March.
His family are reported to be preparing a hero's welcome if he leaves prison, as expected, on Monday.
Zaidi's three-year prison sentence was reduced to one because he had a clean record. He is due to be released three months early for good behaviour.
His family is reportedly planning to meet him at the gates of the Baghdad detention centre and then hold a party for him.
Hero's welcome
His brother has said that Zaidi has been beaten while in prison, suffering a broken arm, broken ribs and internal bleeding, according to his older brother. Those allegations have been refuted by the Iraqi military.
The previously little-known journalist from the private Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV has become a hero to many, not just in Iraq but across the Arab world, for what many saw as a fitting send-off for a deeply unpopular US president.
As he flung the shoes, Mr Zaidi shouted: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog. This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq."
His action was celebrated in internet games and on T-shirts and some have offered him their daughters in marriage.
Mr Zaidi, who lives in Baghdad, has worked for al-Baghdadia for three years.
A senior official at the channel said that his salary had continued to be paid during his prison term and that a home had been bought for him in the capital.
During his work as a reporter, Mr Zaidi was abducted by insurgents and held twice for questioning by US forces in Iraq.
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Freed Iraq shoe-thrower claims "tortured" in custody
2009-09-15
BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The released Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was tortured during the first days of being in custody.
"I have been tortured by electric shocks, beatings and whipped by cords," Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who was freed earlier in the day after nine months of imprisonment, told in the news conference at the TV station where he works in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Waziryah.
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| Iraqi reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi (C with beard and sunglasses) is seen upon arrival at the Al-Baghdadya television station following his release from prison in Baghdad September 15, 2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
"In the morning, I was left in the cold weather after they splashed me with water," he said, adding that he will reveal later the names of some senior officials in the Iraqi government and the army.
Zaidi, wearing a sash in the color of Iraqi flag around his shoulders, said that the abuse was under way at the time Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was on television telling Iraqis that "he couldn't sleep until being reassured on my fate."
The 30-year-old reporter of the Cairo-base Iraqi channel of al-Baghdadiyah also said that he has fears now for his life safety.
He believed that the "U.S. intelligence service would spare no efforts to chase me as an insurgent revolutionary who opposes the occupation (of Iraq), in an attempt to kill me."
Zaidi hurled his shoes at Bush during a joint press conference with Maliki on Dec. 14, when Bush was on a farewell visit to Iraq.
"Here I am free, but my country is still captive. I am not a hero, but I am a man of opinion and attitude, who was shocked by the killing of Iraqis," Zaidi said when explained the motive of his act.
Initially, Zaidi was sentenced to three years in prison. The court reduced the term to one year because Zaidi had no criminal history. Later, Zaidi got a cut of 25 percent of his sentence due to his good behavior in line with the Iraqi law.
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Shoe-throwing reporter released from Baghdad prison
BAGHDAD, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Iraqi television reporter, who was jailed for hurling his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush, was released from a Baghdad prison on Tuesday.
Around midday, Zaidi, escorted by dozens of his relatives and local media staff, arrived at the headquarters of the al-Baghdadiyah channel in Baghdad. Full story Sphere: Related Content
