Posted on 12/16/2008 5:28:06 AM PST by Schnucki
The brother of the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush has said that the reporter has been beaten in custody.
Muntadar al-Zaidi has suffered a broken hand, broken ribs and internal bleeding, as well as an eye injury, his older brother, Dargham, told the BBC.
Mr Zaidi threw his shoes at Mr Bush at a news conference, calling him "a dog".
The BBC tried to contact Iraq's top security official but he was not available for comment.
Meanwhile, offers to buy the shoes are being made around the Arab world, reports say.
Mass rallies in support of Mr Zaidi have also been held across Iraq, calling for his release.
Dargham al-Zaidi told the BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Baghdad he believed his brother had now been taken to a US military hospital in the Iraqi capital.
Hero figure
Mr Zaidi told our correspondent that despite offers from many lawyers his brother has not been given access to any since being arrested by forces under the command of Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.
The Iraqi authorities have said the 28-year-old will be prosecuted under Iraqi law, although it is not yet clear what the charges might be.
Iraqi lawyers have speculated that he could face charges of insulting a foreign leader and the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al Maliki, who was standing next to President Bush during the incident. The offence carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Our correspondent says that the previously little-known journalist from the private Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV has become a hero to many, not just in Iraq but across the Arab world, for what many saw as a fitting send-off for a deeply unpopular US president.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Imagine what would happen if you threw your shoes at Obama.
A ceramic/plastic hand grenade could have been brought in as easily as shoes.
“Was he beaten with shoes”?
...hopefully 6 inch heels.
I’m going to buy them and stuff them with pig entrails!
> Imagine what would happen if you threw your shoes at Obama.
Bigger head, easier target...
Could be true, could be false... We all know just how brutal things can be in those Iraqi prisons, when they’re run by Iraqis.
It’s too bad this guy didn’t try throwing his shoes at Saddam or “Baghdad Bob” back in the day... Then he’d really have something to report on... Like what it feels like to be lowered into a chipper shredder... Or being tossed off the roof of a building. Or having body parts cut off or out, without anesthetic... The list goes on and on...
Mark
LOL!!!
And if he had done this to one of Saddam's buddies, what would have happened?
How quickly some forget.
He should be thankful it was President Bush, because had this been a Saddam-like dictator, he would be shot dead right on the spot, and his whole family would be tortured and killed as well had this been a few years ago.
“Gretchen on F&F was laughing it off, thinking it was no big deal.”
She makes it difficult for me to even watch the show. I don’t know why they don’t use Alisyn Camerota who used to do the news on the weekly F&F and is now one of the hosts on the weekend show. She’s beautiful, professional, funny and smart. Gretchen is so irritating and overbearing and talks way too much and has no idea what she’s taking about.
Line his cell with pictures of Helen Thomas.
Problem solved..
Beaten, eh?
Boo hoo.
Reasonable people would agree... On the other hand, reasonable people would also say, "damn, if he did that under Saddam, he'd be history!" Instead there are some there applauding him. While I agree that he should be charged for assault, you can pretty well bet that the rest of the muslim world will see this as weakness and simply embolden them, especially Iran.
Mark
Caught sight of the family on SeeBS last night on its news. Did not see any poster of Che Guevara at all.
Boy, the world is just completely upside-down. Iraq has a free press. They have free speech. They vote for their leaders. Heck, that journalist can get elected himself one day and completely cut off ties with the US if he so chooses. It’s a democracy!!!
What exactly on this earth was that journalist protesting by throwing a shoe at the man who removed his tormentor?
It’s not just him. It’s so much of the Arab world and all the lefties in the US and Europe, too. In my book, they are all a bunch of freakin’ whiners.
Yes, things have gone poorly at times. Yes, regretful things have occurred. But, GW has finally given that poop-hole part of the world a chance to join the modern world. This is something ‘Band-Aid,’ Hands Across America,’a ‘Bono concert’ or —pick your useless liberal endeavor— never even came close to accomplishing.
People like that journalist (and the liberal left) better be careful or they may get what they are wishing for.....a new Iraqi dictatorship.
I’m personally ‘this close’ to telling all of the whiners to go pound sand....every last ungrateful, unsophisticated, and worthless last one of them. I certain;y won’t feel bad when they are getting imprisoned for complaining about their government.
At the very least, the lefties and the Arabs, in general, owe all of us an explanation as to why they don’t want human rights to exist in Iraq. The trouble is, they can’t. They can only throw shoes and whip up the emotions of the ignorant.
Why did they let a Baathist in the room??
Pray for W and Our Troops
Teaching someone about free speech? Give me a break. He should have been shot by the secret service when he drew his had back to throw the first shoe, let alone the second. Felonious assault and ten years minimum hard time would be appropriate. If you were stupid enough to try that stupid stunt in the U.S., that would be the minimum penalty. Free speech is fine, but speech has consequences, and so does battery. And screw the “Arab Street” that would applaud this act, the whole bunch of you aren't worthy to lick used condoms.
The new shoes should be made of pig skin.
He probably just fell up a flight of stairs.
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