Shoe Thrower Trial Postponed

President Bush Shoe Thrower The trial of Muntadhar al-Zeidi who threw a shoe at President Bush is postponed while the court decides what he'll be charged with

by Associated Press/ CBS News

Published: Tue, December 30, 2008 - 10:13 am CST Last Updated: Tue, December 30, 2008 - 10:32 am CST

The trial of an Iraqi journalist hailed as a hero in the Arab world after throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush. was postponed on Tuesday pending a review of the case by a higher court, a spokesman for Iraq's Higher Judicial Court said.
The trial of Muntadhar al-Zeidi was to begin on Wednesday on charges of assaulting a foreign leader but court spokesman Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said that the trial had been postponed pending an appellate court ruling on what charges the journalist should face.
Bayrkdar said the defence team was seeking a different charge, but did not specify what that charge would be.
Al-Zeidi threw his shoes at Bush during a December 14 (2008) joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
The gesture of contempt for the US invasion and occupation of Iraq made al-Zeidi a folk hero in Iraq and beyond, with thousands of people demonstrating for his release.
It was not immediately clear what appeals his lawyers had submitted to the court.
Before the postponement was announced, one of al-Zeidi's lawyers told Associated Press Television News that he expected a lengthy trial and a sentence of no less than three years if the journalist was convicted.
Al-Zeidi's brother, Dhargham al-Zeidi, said that the family would turn to an international court if they found the Iraqi jurisdiction system "biased and unfair".
He said if the Iraqi jurisdiction system was "fair and transparent then it's fine, but if it is politicised...we will resort to the international judiciary".
Dhia al-Saadi, chairman of the Iraqi Lawyers' Union and head of the team of lawyers defending al-Zeidi said they would present a wide bill of defence based on justifications and legal styles that, he said, would lead probably to his release.
The case transformed al-Zeidi from a little-know television journalist into an international celebrity for defying the US leader, but it also embarrassed Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki who was standing next to Bush when the shoes were thrown.
Last week, the Iraqi leader sought to undermine the journalist's popularity by saying he had confessed that the mastermind of the attack was a militant known for slitting the throats of his victims.
Al-Maliki said that in a letter of apology to him al-Zeidi wrote that a known militant had induced him to throw the shoes.
The alleged instigator has never been identified and neither al-Maliki nor any of his officials have provided further explanation. The letter was never made public.
The journalist's family denied the claim and alleged that al-Zeidi was tortured into writing the letter.
His brother Uday al-Zeidi said he met the journalist in prison about a week after the incident and that said expressed no regret for throwing the shoes.
He claimed his brother had a missing tooth and cigarette burns on his ears.
He added that his brother told him jailers also doused him with cold water while he was naked.
The investigating judge, Dhia al-Kinani, has said that the journalist was beaten around the face and eyes when he was wrestled to the ground after throwing the shoes.
There has been no independent corroboration that al-Zeidi was abused in custody, and Iraqi officials have denied al-Zeidi has been abused.
The shoe-throwing incident has also led to a political crisis that resulted in the resignation of Parliament's Sunni speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and delayed by a week a key decision on whether non-US foreign troops would be allowed to stay in Iraq beyond New Year's Eve.
The parliament speaker, who angered other parliament members during a discussion of the shoe-thrower, had tried to delay a vote on the troop agreement as a way of holding onto his job, but the effort failed.

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