WORLD BRIEFING / IRAQ
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Iraq’s highest court 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.
Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar said the decision was made because the journalist had no criminal history.
The defense appealed the original ruling to the Federal Appeals Court, citing a law stipulating a maximum sentence of only two years for publicly insulting a visiting foreign leader.
Muntather Zaidi’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 Bush is reviled for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Defense attorneys said that Zaidi’s act was an expression of freedom and not a crime.
His lawyer argued that he should be freed immediately.
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