Hero of the Arab World Has Sentence Reduced

Only five months to go before this conquering hero can hit the lecture circuit and be feted at colleges across America. Even money he's appearing with Olbermann by September 15.

AN Iraqi court cut the jail term of the TV reporter who shot to fame for hurling his shoes at former US president George W Bush from three years to one, his lawyer said today after an appeal.

Iraqi Muntazer al-Zaidi, 30, was convicted by a Baghdad court on March 12 of attempting to assault Mr Bush during his farewell visit to the Iraqi capital in December.

Lawyer Dhiya al-Saadi said: "The appeals court decided to reduce the jail sentence from three years to one for several reasons.

"They considered his motives, the fact that he is still a young man and the fact that he had no previous criminal record.

"His good behaviour in prison is another reason why his sentence has been reduced.''

Zaidi is actually set to be released on September 14 because of the three months he has also served and because, under Iraqi law, only nine months are actually served for each year of a sentence.