Official: Shoe-thrower in Iraqi judicial custody

If charged al-Zeidi could face a maximum penalty of two years in jail

AP

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."

After the Sunday incident, al-Zeidi was initially held by the prime minister's guards and later turned over to the Iraqi army's Baghdad command. The command, in turn, handed him over to the judiciary, the Iraqi official said on condition of anonymity because he wasn't supposed to release the information.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf said al-Zeidi could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi prime minister, who was standing next to Bush when the shoes were thrown. The offense carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.

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