The Iraqi television reporter who threw his shoes at former US president George W. Bush in one of the more bizarre episodes of the Iraq War might use his new iconic status in Iraq to promote humanitarian causes, his family said.
The reporter, Muntadhar al-Zeidi, is to be released on Monday after nine months in prison. He will be greeted by a nation where many feel his act of protest encapsulated their own bitterness over the war and US occupation.
Parties and music are planned at his family’s home in Baghdad, where his brother was hanging posters of him on Thursday. But the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who was deeply embarrassed by the outburst, will not be celebrating.
The prime minister was standing beside Bush during his final visit to Baghdad as president on Dec. 14 when the journalist shot up from his seat at a press conference and whipped his shoes one by one toward the president’s head while calling him a dog.
Bush was unhurt but had to duck twice in a stunning moment captured on TV and replayed countless times.
In March, al-Zeidi was convicted of assault. His three-year prison sentence was reduced to one because he had no prior record and now he is to be released three months early for good behavior.
Al-Zeidi, a 30-year-old bachelor who was a virtual unknown working for a minor TV network, now has undeniable star power and is contemplating his future.
“My understanding is that al-Zeidi might quit his work as a journalist because he is sure that he will be turned away or boycotted by government officials,” his brother Dargham said. “Rather, he told me he is interested in working in a humanitarian organization or becoming an activist for women’s and orphans’ rights.”
He has also had offers to go into politics for several independent parties, but he has declined, his brother said.
His employer, Al-Baghdadiya TV, is certain he will return to work there, however, in a comeback that would likely boost the small network’s viewership numbers. The Iraqi channel headquartered in Cairo has continued to pay his salary during his time in prison and even bought him a new house.
“As far as I know, and from what he has told me — and I speak to him weekly — he will come back to work for Al-Baghdadiya,” station manager Abdul-Hamid al-Sayah said.
The manager, speaking from Cairo, said the network continues to stand by him.
“We don’t condone a journalist using a shoe to express himself,” al-Sayah said. “But when you read his background and his story, you understand his frustration with the occupation and his nationalistic feelings.”
The station plans a press conference with al-Zeidi and a talk show appearance where he will explain his actions and assure fellow reporters that “he does understand and respect the noble profession of journalism,” al-Sayah said.
At al-Zeidi’s office in Baghdad on Thursday, a cleaner was dusting his chair and computer. Colleagues were hanging pictures, including one showing al-Zeidi flinging open a jail cell door and stepping out along with a pair of doves.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS