Al-Zaydi’s defense team to appeal against verdict

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The defense team of the infamous Journalist Muntather al-Zaydi said on Thursday that it will appeal against the verdict issued earlier by the supreme criminal court which sentenced al-Zaydi to three years behind bars. “The court, presided by Justice Abdul Ameer al-Rikabi, took into consideration that the journalist has not been previously convicted in any crime, but we intend to appeal against the verdict,” Lawyer Ahlam al-Lami, member of the defense team, told IraqiNews.com news agency. The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court on Thursday sentenced Muntather al-Zaydi, the journalist who hurled his shoes at former U.S. president George Bush, to three years behind bars, the correspondent of al-Boghdadiya satellite television said. Al-Zaydi has worked for al-Boghdadiya since its establishment in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. He was kidnapped late last year by unidentified gunmen while stepping out of his home in al-Bab al-Sharqi area, central Baghdad. Four days later he was found lying on the ground near auto selling stores in al-Nahda square, Baghdad, at a late night hour. Zaydi is considered one of the journalists outspokenly criticizing the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq. He had written several reports opposing the U.S. military presence in the country. SH (S)/SR 1