Reporters Without Borders condemns the three-year jail sentence which a Baghdad court passed today on journalist Muntazer Al-Zaidi of the Iraqi TV station Al-Baghdadia for throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad on 14 December.
He was convicted under articles of 223, 225 and 227 of the Iraqi criminal code of “offending a foreign head of state during an official visit,” which carries maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
“We obviously regret that Zaidi chose this way to protest against the President Bush’s policies but there is no justification for this prison sentence,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The sentence is cynical in a country where so many of the people who kill journalists are never brought to justice. We call for his release.”
Zaidi has been held ever since his arrest at the news conference. The trial began on 19 February but was adjourned because of a legal wrangle about the nature of President Bush’s visit to Iraq. Zaidi’s lawyers argued that it was a “surprise” visit and not an “official” one, as the indictment said.
Zaidi pleaded not guilty. “My reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi would have done towards the person responsible for the crimes committed in Iraq," he told the judge.
An Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush, then US president, has been given a three-year jail sentence after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign head of state.
The sentencing of Muntadher al-Zaidi, 30, by the Central Criminal Court in Baghdad on Thursday, was announced by Al-Baghdadiya television, his employer.
The journalist, who became a hero to many Iraqis after the December 14 incident, arrived at the court under a heavy police escort.
Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie said he had taken into consideration that al-Zaidi is young and it was his first offence, the defence lawyers said.
Packed courtroom
There was standing room only at the courtroom on the edge of Baghdad's Green Zone as some 200 family members, reporters and lawyers crowded in.
Al-Rubaie later cleared the court before returning his verdict.
Asked if he was innocent, al-Zaidi responded: "Yes, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi (would have done)."
Bush was speaking on December 14 at a joint news conference in Baghdad with Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, when al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at him.
The shoes narrowly missed Bush, who later brushed the incident aside.
As well as throwing the shoe, al-Zaidi shouted "It is the farewell kiss, you dog", before security forces wrestled him to the ground.
He later said he had been beaten and tortured in custody.
Shoe-hurling is considered an especially grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world and al-Zaidi had risked up to 15 years in jail on the charge of aggression against a foreign head of state.
'Prisoner of war'
After the verdict on Thursday, al-Zaidi's 25-strong defence team emerged from the courtroom to scenes of chaos. Several family members screamed: "It's an American court ... sons of dogs."
One of his brothers, Uday, said the decision was political.
"This is a political court. Muntadhar is being treated like a prisoner of war. He is not a normal prisoner ... This decision has been taken by the prime minister's office."
Al-Zaidi shouted "Iraq, long live Iraq" after the verdict was read out, Yahia Attabi, a defence lawyer, said.
"We expected the decision because under the Iraqi criminal code he was charged with assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit."
Appeal planned
Attabi said al-Zaidi will appeal the decision.
The family said they would not only appeal but also press ahead with plans to bring torture charges against Bush, al-Maliki and his bodyguards at a human rights court abroad.
Ehiya al-Sadi, the chief defence lawyer, had argued that his client's motives were "honourable".
"He was only expressing his feelings. What he could see was the blood of Iraqis at his feet when he watched the US president speaking about his achievements in Iraq."
Al-Sadi also argued that although Iraqi law considered it an attack on a visiting head of state, "[al-Zaidi's] throwing of the shoe did not cause any injury or damage ... His goal was to insult Bush for the pain Iraqis have suffered".
Al-Zaidi's account
The trial opened on February 19 but was adjourned to determine the nature of Bush's December visit.
Al-Zaidi told the court last month that he had been outraged and was unable to control his emotions when Bush started speaking to the media.
"I had the feeling that the blood of innocent people was dropping on my feet during the time that he was smiling and coming to say bye-bye to Iraq with a dinner.
"So I took the first shoe and threw it but it did not hit him. Then spontaneously I took the second shoe but it did not hit him either. I was not trying to kill the commander of the occupation forces of Iraq."
Members of the regional Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) meeting at a summit in Tehran on Wednesday urged the rapid rebuilding of violence-wracked Gaza Strip.
"The ECO urges its members to increase the speed of reconstruction in Gaza," said an official statement released at the end of the summit.
It said the ECO "sympathizes" with the people of Gaza following the three-week Israeli war on Gaza in December-January that left 1,300 Palestinians dead.
"(ECO) strongly urges the international community to prevent such a human tragedy from happening again, to bring the situation there to normal and to get access to Gaza in order to provide humanitarian aid."
The one-day summit of ECO -- a regional organization founded in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey -- focused on the global financial crisis and its impact on the region.
The European Union on Wednesday night expressed concern about the Israeli threat of demolition 90 houses in the occupied East Jerusalem, urging Israel to prevent the demolition.
"The EU urges the Israeli authorities to prevent the demolition of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem," the EU said in a Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the EU.
"The EU is deeply concerned about the threat of demolition to approximately 90 houses in the Al-Bustan / Silwan area adjacent to the OldCity in East Jerusalem," it said.
The EU asserted that if implemented, the demolition would deprive more than 1000 Palestinians of their homes and would be the largest destruction of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem since 1967.
It reminded Israel of its obligations under the Roadmap and international law. Demolition of houses in this sensitive area threatens the viability of a comprehensive, just and lasting settlement, in conformity with international law.
Istanbul/Geneva (ICRC) – The international community must do more to ensure that the victims of armed conflict have access to safe water and sanitation, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The ICRC is calling on governments taking part in the Fifth World Water Forum in Turkey this week to make a serious commitment to protect water and sanitation systems in times of war and to maintain services in conflict-prone areas to prevent them from collapsing.
"Water, sewage and electrical power systems, along with medical facilities, are usually the first things to be disrupted when a war breaks out," said Robert Mardini, who heads the ICRC's water and habitat unit. "They can be damaged or shut down completely by shelling and explosions, or overwhelmed by influxes of displaced people. Such incidents are often followed by massive shortages and by rapidly spreading disease that can result in loss of life." Mr Mardini cited Iraq, Gaza, Sri Lanka and Somalia as examples of places where the delivery of water supplies and sanitation services has been severely hampered by recent armed conflicts.
Roughly a quarter of the estimated 1.2 billion people unable to obtain clean drinking water, and 15 per cent of the 2.6 billion without access to proper sanitation, are in war-torn countries.
"Access to safe water and adequate sanitation are fundamental for conflict-affected people," said Mr Mardini. "The ICRC aims to use the World Water Forum to put this issue higher up the international agenda and to remind governments of their responsibilities in this respect."
Mr Mardini drew attention to the double adversity faced by war victims struggling to survive a natural disaster. "When a natural disaster, such as a prolonged drought, exacerbates the devastation wrought by conflict, as in Somalia, people become far more vulnerable to poverty and disease."
The ICRC's efforts to improve water and sanitation involve working with communities and Red Cross and Red Crescent partners to provide emergency assistance where needed and to develop sustainable practices. The organization's neutral and impartial role enables it to talk to all sides in a conflict, and thereby to help restore access to water even as fighting rages on.
