Angry Sikh Journalist Throws Shoe at Indian Home Minister, Court Reduces Sentence for Montadhar Al-Zaidi to One Year

Angry journalist throws shoe at Indian home minister during news conference

ASHOK SHARMA | Associated Press Writer

9:20 AM EDT, April 7, 2009

A journalist, wearing a turban, who threw a shoe at Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram, center left, is escorted away by officials during a press conference in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, April 7, 2009. The journalist threw a shoe at India's top security official during a press conference after a confrontational exchange over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left thousands dead. The shoe missed Chidambaram, who continued taking questions Tuesday as officials escorted the journalist away.(AP Photo) (AP / April 7, 2009)

NEW DELHI AP —

An angry Sikh journalist threw a shoe at India's top security official after a confrontational exchange during a news conference over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that left thousands dead.

The shoe missed Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, who continued taking questions Tuesday as officials escorted the journalist away.

The journalist, Jarnail Singh, was taken into police custody, but released after questioning, said police spokesman Rajan Bhagat.

Singh is a veteran reporter with one of India's largest newspapers, the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran.

Before throwing the shoe, Singh asked Chidambaram several questions about the Central Bureau of Investigation's findings last week that cleared a senior Congress party leader, Jagdish Tytler, of involvement in the bloody riots that left 3,000 dead.

Chidambaram said CBI was an independent body and that the government played no role in the decision. He called for the public to be patient.

Singh, dressed in an olive-green shirt and a white turban, then threw his blue and white sneaker at Chidambaram, narrowly missing his face.

Moments later, Chidambaram repeatedly asked the reporters in the room to "settle down" and said "the emotional outburst of one man should not hijack a press conference."

Soon after, Singh told TV news reporters that he regretted throwing the shoe but felt Chidambaram was dodging the question.

"I just wanted to ask him how justice will be done, but he was not interested in answering the questions," he told CNN-IBN during a telephone interview from police custody. "I don't think it was the right way, what I have done, but the issue is right."

Singh did not say whether he was inspired by Iraqi journalist Montadhar al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at former President George W Bush during his last visit to Baghdad. An Iraqi court Tuesday reduced Al-Zaidi's sentence of three years in prison to one year.

The 1984 riots, which remain a controversial issue in India, left more than 3,000 dead, most of whom were Sikhs. The carnage erupted across India after former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards shot her to death.

Many blame Congress party officials for turning a blind eye or even supporting the rioters in the violence that ensued after their leader was slain.

On Tuesday, hundreds of Sikhs held protests over the CBI's findings in front of the home of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, the daughter-in-law of Indira Gandhi.

Jagdish Tytler, the center of the controversy, was a lawmaker at the time and remains a divisive figure in Indian politics. He is currently campaigning for re-election to Parliament in polls that begin later this month.

Court reduces sentence for Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President Bush

SAMEER N. YACOUB | Associated Press Writer
9:59 AM EDT, April 7, 2009
BAGHDAD (AP) —

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.

Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar, the spokesman, said the decision was taken because the journalist had no prior criminal history.

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 U.S. president.

Montadhar 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 U.S. 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-Zeidi does not deserve to be imprisoned even for one day," al-Zaidi's chief defense attorney, Diaa al-Sa'adi, told The Associated Press. "What he has done falls in the category of freedom of expression and he was trying to express his anti-occupation feelings,"

Another al-Zaidi 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-Sa'adi 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, told The AP.