Iraqi shoe-throwing reporter asks for pardon from prime minister

Dec 18, 2008, 20:11 GMT

Baghdad - The Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush asked Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to forgive him, according to media reports on Thursday.

During a press conference with Bush and al-Maliki on Sunday, Montazer al-Ziadi threw his shoes at the visiting US leader while shouting in Arabic: 'This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.'

Al-Arabiya news channel reported that al-Zaidi expressed his regret for his 'ugly action' and asked al-Maliki to pardon him 'like a son asking his father for forgiveness.'

'I have interviewed you in the summer of 2005 and I remember you told me to come back any time, and I plead for this fatherly kindness in you,' read the plea.

Al-Ziadi, who has worked for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya since 2005, is being tried at the Iraqi Criminal Court and will face seven to 10 years behind bars if found guilty of 'aggression against a president.'

Throwing shoes at someone is a grave insult among Arabs.

The 29-year-old reporter's case opened in Baghdad on Wednesday, without him being present.

Arabs all over the region have expressed their support of al-Zaidi and many of them have protested his imprisonment. Others hailed him as 'a hero' and a 'brave man.' Clips of him hurling the shoes and Bush ducking to escape the projectiles have been repeatedly shown on television.