Shoe-Thrower's Trial Postponed

Posted by Siun , Firedoglake at 4:02 AM on January 1, 2009.

Aswat al Iraq reports that Al Zaida's trial, scheduled to begin yesterday, was postponed:

A lawyer of Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaydi, who threw a pair of shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad two weeks ago, ruled out a trial session for his defendant tomorrow.

"The defense committee has requested the Court of Cassation to change the legal description, in accordance with which al-Zaydi will be tried under Article 223 of the penal code," a member of the committee, Ahlam al-Lami, told Aswat al-Iraq.

"We have also submitted a plea for his release on bail," Lami added. If found guilty, al-Zaydi may face an up to seven-year jail sentence.

Calls to the Iraqi Embassy at (202) 483-7500 supporting the request for bail -- and asking for the charges to be dismissed would be great. Let's make sure they know we have not forgotten.

Photo from Raed in the Middle of the petition to free Al Zeidi which Raed coordinated and delivered yesterday to the office of the Iraqi ambassador in Washington, DC. with 4,000 signatures.

Tagged as: bush, iraq, shoe, iraqi reporter, muntader al-zeidi

Siun is a regular blogger for FireDogLake.