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Iraqi shoe thrower gets prison sentence cut by appeals court

By Douglas A. Berman

This BBC News article provides some additional evidence that crime and punishment in Iraq is very different than crime and punishment in the US: The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former US President George W Bush has had his sentence cut from three years to one year on appeal.  Muntadar al-Zaidi's lawyer argued that the charge should be changed from assault to insulting a foreign leader. The judge agreed and reduced the term in line with the less serious offence. An official for the court said the presiding judge had also taken into account the fact that Zaidi had no prior criminal history. "The appeal court issued its decision today... taking into consideration that he [Zaidi] is still young and doesn't have any previous convictions," said Abdul Sattar al-Birqdar, the spokesman for the Iraqi judicial council...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on April 07, 2009 (boomark / email).