Results tagged “shoetossing”

The Iraqi journalist who threw both of his shoes at President George W. Bush last December received a reduced sentence from Iraq's highest court yesterday. Mutandhar al-Zeidi was sentenced to three years in prison last month, but now a court spokesman said he will face one year, "he's still young and doesn't have any previous convictions." Plus he could be free in five months with good behavior, according to the Daily News. al-Zeidi's family and lawyer are happy with the decision; al-Zeidi had explained the incident as a reaction to Bush's smiling and joking as "a whole people are saddened because of his policy... I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way... So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes."

The Iraqi journalist who threw both of his shoes at President George W. Bush last December was sentenced to three years in prison. Mutandhar al-Zeidi's lawyer said the decision came after a short trial today. Al-Zeidi said last month that he spontaneously decided to throw his shoes after being enraged by Bush's jovial demeanor during a press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, "A whole people are saddened because of his policy, and he was talking with a smile on his face …and he was joking with the prime minister and saying he was going to have dinner with him after the press conference... I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way... So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes."

In a Baghdad courtroom, Iraqi reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi testified about what led him to toss his shoes at former President Bush during a press conference late last year. To sum it up, he was irritated by Bush's jokey manner: Zaidi said, "While he was talking I was looking at all his achievements in my mind. More than a million killed, the destruction and humiliation of mosques, violations against Iraqi women, attacking Iraqis every day and every hour. A whole people are saddened because of his policy, and he was talking with a smile on his face …and he was joking with the prime minister and saying he was going to have dinner with him after the press conference... I was blind to anything else. I felt the blood of the innocent people bleeding from beneath his feet and he was smiling in that way... So I reacted to this feeling by throwing my shoes. I couldn't stop the reaction inside me…. It was spontaneous." Zaidi faces up to two years in prison.