Shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist alleges torture

BAGHDAD - Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who famously threw his shoes at then US president George W. Bush, Tuesday said he had been tortured with electric shocks while in custody.

Speaking to reporters after his release, al-Zaidi said Iraqi security forces also beat him, held his head under water to simulate drowning, then left him in the cold all night in the 24 hours after his arrest in December.

“At the same time Iraqi Prime Minister (Nuri al-Maliki) was saying he would not sleep until he made sure I was safe, I was being tortured in all sorts of ways,” al-Zaidi said.

“I demand an apology from al-Maliki for hiding the truth about my torture in custody,” he said.

Al-Baghdadia, al-Zaidi’s employer, greeted the journalist’s release with a massive celebration with traditional music and flowers.

Al-Zaidi had been scheduled to be released after serving nine months in prison Monday, but paperwork delayed his release, al-Baghdadia satellite channel reported.

The journalist was initially sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting a foreign leader by hurling his shoes at Bush at a news conference and shouting, “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqis, you dog”, but that sentence was subsequently reduced to one year on appeal, then to nine months for good behaviour.

Al-Zaidi said he had thrown his shoes at Bush for “the injustice that fell on my people, and how the occupation humiliated my country by placing it under its shoes”.

“The occupation divided us and made our homes places of constant mourning. Our streets and parks became our graves. This was my only response for a murderer who comes after years of killings and humiliation to boast of victory and democracy. It was the suitable response when all standards had been violated,” the journalist said.

Al-Zaidi’s protest made him a hero in Iraq and across the Arab world.

Iraqis erected a giant statue of a shoe in the journalist’s honour. Libyan leader Moamer al-Gadhafi said he would bestow his country’s highest decoration, the Libyan Medal of Honour, on him. The emir of Qatar promised him a golden horse, al-Baghdadia reported on its website.