THE IRAQI journalist who made headlines around the world last year when he threw his shoes at President George W Bush in Baghdad found himself on the receiving end of an almost identical attack when a shoe was hurled at him in Paris.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, who served nine months in prison for throwing his shoes at the then US president, was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday to promote his campaign for victims of the war in Iraq when a member of the audience suddenly flung a black shoe at him. “Here’s another shoe for you,” he is reported to have said. It missed, hitting a poster behind his head. “He stole my technique,” Mr Zaidi said afterwards.
According to some accounts, the shoe-thrower was an exiled Iraqi journalist who spoke in defence of US foreign policy and accused Mr Zaidi of siding with a dictatorship before launching his shoe.
One witness said that Mr Zaidi’s brother then chased the attacker in the audience and – what else? – pelted him with a shoe as he left the room.
Mr Zaidi’s own gesture summed up the feelings of many Iraqis about the US military invasion, and he became a hero to opponents of the war.
Millions of people around the world saw images of him throwing his shoes at Mr Bush during a news conference after yelling: “This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog.”
Mr Zaidi, a television reporter, was sentenced to three years for assaulting a head of state. This was later reduced to one year and he was released in September. He has alleged that he was tortured by guards after his arrest.