Official: Shoe-thrower in Iraqi judicial custody
Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:57 pm
BAGHDAD – The journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush was handed over to the Iraqi judiciary, an Iraqi official said Tuesday, a move that signals the start of criminal proceedings.
There were conflicting reports about the physical condition of Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who gained folk hero status when he hurled both his shoes at Bush during a news conference Sunday in Baghdad.
His employer, Al-Baghdadia television, reported that al-Zeidi had been "seriously injured" — presumably beaten by guards — and called on the government to allow lawyers and the Iraqi Red Crescent to visit him.
Later, one of his brothers said on Al-Baghdadia that he had spoken by telephone with al-Zeidi and that he told him "thank God, I am in good health."
"I felt from his voice that he is good health," brother Maitham al-Zeidi said.
In Washington, deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: "Obviously, we condemn any kind of unnecessary force used against the reporter. I don't know that that happened but certainly if that did take place, we would condemn that."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_ ... ea/ml_iraq
There were conflicting reports about the physical condition of Muntadhar al-Zeidi, who gained folk hero status when he hurled both his shoes at Bush during a news conference Sunday in Baghdad.
His employer, Al-Baghdadia television, reported that al-Zeidi had been "seriously injured" — presumably beaten by guards — and called on the government to allow lawyers and the Iraqi Red Crescent to visit him.
Later, one of his brothers said on Al-Baghdadia that he had spoken by telephone with al-Zeidi and that he told him "thank God, I am in good health."
"I felt from his voice that he is good health," brother Maitham al-Zeidi said.
In Washington, deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said: "Obviously, we condemn any kind of unnecessary force used against the reporter. I don't know that that happened but certainly if that did take place, we would condemn that."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081216/ap_ ... ea/ml_iraq
