BAGHDAD: The trial of an Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush in Baghdad has been postponed pending an appeal over whether the incident amounted to an assault, his lawyer said yesterday.
TV journalist Muntadar Al-Zeidi is charged with assault against a foreign head of state, which could carry a 15-year prison term, after he hurled both his shoes at Bush during a joint news conference with Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki this month and called him a dog.
Al-Zeidi’s lawyer Dhiaa Al-Saadi told Reuters the defense was appealing to have the charge reduced to insulting a visiting head of state, which would carry a two-year maximum sentence, because throwing shoes could not have put Bush in actual danger.
“Have you ever heard of anyone being killed by a shoe?” Al-Saadi said. “In Europe, they throw eggs and rotten tomatoes to insult. In Iraq, throwing a shoe is a symbol of disrespect,” Al-Saadi added.
Iraqi High Judicial Council spokesman Abdul Satar Birqadr said Al-Zeidi’s appeal request would be examined, resulting in a delay in the trial which was to have begun today.
