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Shoe-tossing reporter could face seven year jail term, says brother
(AKI) - Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi who was filmed throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush could face up to seven years in prison, his brother said on Wednesday. Udai al-Zaidi, brother of the journalist from al-Baghdadiya, said Muntazer faced a jail sentence of between two and seven years for charges that may include attempted murder.Muntazer al-Zaidi appeared in court on Tuesday and confessed to the attack on the president. " My brother Montazer al-Zaidi has been brought before a judge for preliminary investigations, and risks from two to seven years in prison, " his brother told Arab TV network Al-Jazeera. "The government has assigned him a government lawyer that we do not recognise. We are worried because he has been taken to a secret location inside the Green Zone in Baghdad and we do not know where he is." The journalist generated headlines around the world and provoked a Baghdad street protest after throwing his footwear at the president during his media conference in Iraq on Sunday. "Al-Zaidi was brought today before the investigating judge in the presence of a defence lawyer and a prosecutor," said Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq's High Judicial Council on Tuesday. "He admits the action he carried out." The journalist has become a hero to millions of Arabs but he has reportedly been nursing a broken arm and ribs as well as cuts to his face while in detention, according to his brother. On Tuesday, thousands of Iraqis took part in a second day of street protests today demanding al-Zaidi's release. In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, north of Baghdad, around 1,000 protesters reportedly carried banners and chanted slogans in his support. The head of the Iraqi Union of Journalists described al-Zaidi's action as "strange and unprofessional" but urged Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to give him clemency. Posted by: Fred 2008-12-19 |
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