“This is an American court, you sons of dogs,” screamed the brother of Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who was jailed for three years on Thursday for hurling his shoes at former US president George W. Bush.
Family members who had been waiting nervously outside the court for the verdict began to scream and cry, some falling to their knees as word of the decision swept the Central Criminal Court building like wildfire.
“This is an American court. There is not an honorable man among you,” screamed Dunya, one of Zaidi’s sisters, her face contorted with anger as tears streamed down her cheeks.
Zaidi’s family, many of them women wearing conservative long black abaya, marched around crying and ululating, as security guards struggled to maintain control.
Judge Abdulamir Hassan al-Rubaie had opened proceedings with Zaidi hoping to have the charges reduced from the full charge of assaulting a foreign head of state.
But Rubaie said ministers had determined that Bush was on an official visit to Iraq, so Zaidi would therefore face the more serious charge for throwing his shoes at the then serving president on Dec. 14.
Zaidi, whose shoe-hurling gesture is considered a grave insult, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, at that point risked up to 15 years in jail. But he was handed a three-year term.
The trial had first opened on Feb. 19, but was adjourned for three weeks to determine the status of Bush’s farewell trip.
Before the packed court room of journalists, lawyers and family members, the judge asked Zaidi if he was innocent.
“Yes, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi [would have done],” came the reply from the 30-year-old journalist.
Wearing a khaki suit, brown-striped shirt and thin-framed glasses, Zaidi had been led into the packed courtroom under a heavy police escort. He held his chin high as he sat in the dock.
Events took a turn for the worse when newly appointed lawyer Tareq Hab walked out after having not been allowed to finish his statement. The judge said he had already seen it.
Chief defense lawyer Ehiya al-Sadi then argued his client’s motives were “honorable” and the action had expressed his feelings over the suffering of Iraqis since the US-led invasion of 2003.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television