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| Iraq |
| Shoe Thrower's Brother: We are Not Afraid |
| 2008-12-19 |
| Asharq Al-Awsat - Muntadhar Al Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during his recent visit to Baghdad appeared before an investigating judge on Tuesday and admitted to aggression against the American President. Maitham Al Zaidi, Muntadhar's youngest brother confirmed that the members of the Al Zaidi family did not fear for their own safety and expressed that if they were living under the previous regime, they would undoubtedly have felt afraid. Abdul Satar Birqadr, a spokesman for Iraq's High Judicial Council said that Muntadhar Al Zaidi had appeared before the investigating judge, in the presence of a defence lawyer and the prosecutor, and admitted aggression against a president. During a telephone interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Maitham Al Zaidi said, "Muntadhar phoned me personally around 5 or 6 o'clock in the evening (Tuesday) while I was at the office of Al-Baghdadi satellite channel (in Baghdad) and he said three sentences to me: 'I am well, I will go to court tomorrow (Wednesday), and get me a lawyer.'" Maitham confirmed that this telephone call was not made from Muntadhar's telephone. He added that the family had attempted to call Muntadhar on a number of occasions but had been unable to get through since his telephone had been switched off. Maitham added, "Muntadhar sounded well, he sounded much better than I expected." Maitham stated that his family did not fear for Muntadhar's safety, saying, "If we were living under the previous regime (of Saddam Hussein) we would all be afraid, and we would have all been arrested. But in an age of democracy and freedom, we are not afraid." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #3 you're not afraid but just begging too get brother out of jail. He threw his shoe at an international leader i think any of us would be looking at some jail time on this one |
| Posted by: rabid whitetail 2008-12-19 15:39 |
| #2 Two words immediately come to mind here... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED |
| Posted by: eltoroverde 2008-12-19 14:07 |
| #1 "If we were living under the previous regime (of Saddam Hussein) we would all be afraid, and we would have all been arrested. But in an age of democracy and freedom, we are not afraid." Savour the irony. |
| Posted by: Milton Fandango 2008-12-19 13:18 |