Shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist gets 'shoe-d'

Paris, Dec 2: Iraqi journalist, Muntazer al-Zaidi, who shot up to popularity after he threw a shoe at former US president George W Bush in Dec 2008, got a taste of his own medicine when he was at a receiving end of a similar attack.

The scribe, who was imprisoned for his outburst against Bush, was speaking at a news conference on his campaign for victims of the war in Iraq when the incident took place.

The video footage of the incident shows a man in the audience hurling a shoe at the journalist, which landed on wall next to Zaidi's head.

According to the French media reports, the attacker has been identified as an exiled Iraqi journalist who defended US policy. He reportedly accused Zaidi of siding with a dictatorship before launching his shoe attack.

The year ago attack launched by Zaidi against Bush was seen as a manifestation of the collective anger of Iraqis.

"This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," he told Bush before throwing the shoe at him.

The television reporter was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for assaulting a head of state. However, this was reduced to one year and the scribe was released in Sep 2009.

OneIndia News