Iraq's highest court on Tuesday reduced the prison sentence for an Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W Bush from three years to one, a court spokesman said.
Iraq's highest court on Tuesday reduced the prison sentence for an Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W Bush from three years to one, a court spokesman said.
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Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar, the spokesman, said the decision was taken because the journalist had no prior criminal history.
Muntadhar al-Zaidiu00a0had hurledu00a0his shoes at former US president George W Bush
The defense appealed the original ruling to the Federal Appeals Court citing an Iraqi law stipulating a maximum sentence of only two years for publicly insulting a visiting foreign leader.
The decision came as Barack Obama made his first official visit to Iraq as US president.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi was sentenced to three years in March after pleading not guilty to a charge of assaulting a foreign leader. He described his action as a "natural response to the occupation."
The journalist's act during Bush's last visit to Iraq as president turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero across the Arab world, where the former US president is reviled for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Defense attorneys have long argued that al-Zaidi's act was an expression of freedom and not a crime, and his lawyer on Tuesday said he should be freed immediately.
"We think al-Zaidi does not deserve to be imprisoned even for one day," al-Zaidi's chief defense attorney, Diaa al-Saadi, told AP. "What he has done falls in the category of freedom of expression and he was trying to express his anti-occupation feelings."
Another al-Zeidi attorney, Yahya al-Ittabi, however, welcomed the court's decision, saying it did not bow to government pressure and reflected "the independence and the integrity of the Iraqi judiciary system."
But Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has had little sympathy for the journalist, saying the incident was more than just an insult. He described it as an assault on a visiting head of state.
Karim al-Shujairi, one of al-Zaidi's attorneys, said the appeal was filed about a week ago.
Al-Zaidi has been in Iraqi custody since he hurled shoes at Bush during a joint news conference with al-Maliki in December 2008.
Though al-Zaidi is scheduled to be released in December 2009, al-Saadi said he could be free within five months with credit for good behavior.
The news came as a surprise to al-Zaidi's family, who called it "a victory for the Iraqi people."
"We did not expect that my brother would be released before the three years," al-Zaidi's brother, Dargham.
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