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Iraqi PM: Shoe-thrower blames throat-slitter

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer Qassim Abdul-zahra, Associated

Press Writer Mon Dec 22, 3:28 pm ET

BAGHDAD Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki moved Monday to undermine the

popularity of the Iraqi who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, saying

the journalist confessed that the mastermind of the attack was a militant known

for slitting his victims' throats.

Tensions over the case also spilled into parliament, as a move to oust the

abrasive Sunni speaker delayed a key decision on whether non-U.S. foreign

troops will be allowed to stay in Iraq beyond New Year's Eve.

Al-Maliki said that in a letter of apology to him, Muntadhar al-Zeidi wrote

that a known militant had induced him to throw the shoes.

"He revealed ... that a person provoked him to commit this act, and that person

is known to us for slitting throats," al-Maliki said, according to the prime

minister's Web site. The alleged instigator was not named and neither al-Maliki

nor any of his officials would elaborate.

The journalist's family denied the claim and alleged that al-Zeidi was coerced

into writing the letter, in which he was said to have requested a pardon for

"the big and ugly act that I perpetrated."

Al-Zeidi's brother Dhargham said that it was "unfair" of al-Maliki to make the

allegation about the throat-slitter and described the prime minister as "a

sectarian man who is destroying the Iraqi people."

Earlier, another brother said he met the journalist in prison and that he had

expressed no regret for throwing the shoes.

"He told me that he has no regret for what he did and that he would do it

again," Uday al-Zeidi told The Associated Press.

He said he visited his brother Sunday and found him missing a tooth and with

cigarette burns on his ears. He also said his brother told him that jailers

also doused him with cold water while he was naked.

"When I saw him yesterday, there were bruises on his face and body. He told me

that they used an iron bar to hit him when they took him out of the press

conference room. He told me that he began screaming and thought all those at

the press conference would have heard his voice," Uday al-Zeidi told AP

Television News.

The investigating judge, Dhia al-Kinani, has said that the journalist was

beaten around the face and eyes when he was wrestled to the ground after

throwing the shoes at Bush during a Dec. 14 press conference in the Green Zone.

The judge said al-Zeidi's face was bruised but he did not provide a further

description.

There has been no independent corroboration that al-Zeidi was abused once in

custody.

Abdul-Sattar Bayrkdar, a spokesman for the Iraqi Higher Judicial Court, said

that when the investigating judge took al-Zeidi's statement last week, the

journalist "did not ask to be checked by a medical committee and did not say

that he was tortured during the investigation."

Al-Zeidi's trial on charges of assaulting a foreign leader is scheduled to

begin Dec. 31. A conviction would carry a sentence of up to two years in

prison. Al-Kinani said last week that he does not have the legal option to drop

the case and that al-Zeidi can receive a pardon only if he is convicted.

The hurling of the shoes turned the little-known Iraqi journalist into an

international celebrity and led to huge street demonstrations in support of

him.

It also brought to a head a simmering dispute between the Iraqi parliament's

abrasive, erratic Sunni speaker and Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers seeking to

oust him. The speaker, Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, had irked lawmakers during a

boisterous debate over the case last week by insulting some of them and saying,

"There is no honor in leading this parliament" and threatening to resign.

On Monday, lawmakers unsuccessfully tried to vote al-Mashhadani out of office.

Instead they gave him until Tuesday to resign or face an ouster vote later that

day.

After the heated closed-door session, al-Mashhadani attempted to force the body

to withdraw its opposition to him by threatening to call a recess until Jan. 7

a week after the U.N. mandate expires on Dec. 31 for non-U.S. foreign troops

to remain in Iraq. He backed down after opposition lawmakers gathered enough

signatures to force a vote against him.

Britain plans to withdraw its 4,000 troops from southern Iraq by the end of

May. Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania also have far smaller

contingents. U.S. troops can remain in Iraq until the end of 2011 under a

separate agreement reached this year.

Shiite lawmaker Diauddin al-Fayadh said the speaker "wanted to embarrass the

British when he postponed the session until Jan. 7. But when the political

blocs insisted on sacking him, he attended the session to defend himself." He

said they were waiting until Tuesday "either to enforce his resignation or to

sack him."

Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers believe they have the required 139 votes in the

275-member parliament to remove al-Mashhadani. If he is ousted, he will be

replaced by one of his two deputies, and parliament can then approve the

resolution.

Two years ago, the Shiite bloc ousted al-Mashhadani after a series of

outbursts, but his fellow Sunnis forced them to reinstate him.

Al-Mashhadani clashed with Kurdish legislators this year over whether the

oil-rich city of Kirkuk should be incorporated into the semiautonomous Kurdish

territory. Kurds wanted the city included, but al-Mashhadani supported Arabs

and Turkomen who opposed the idea.