Monday, September 14, 2009 BAGHDAD: Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi reporter who shot to fame when he threw his shoes at then US president George W. Bush, is set to be released from jail on Monday, his lawyer said on Saturday. "I do not think there are any obstacles to his being freed, and I have great hope that he will be released on Monday," Dia al-Saadi said. The "defence team has presented a petition for (Zaidi's) release to the Iraqi central criminal court, which has handed an order for his release to the prison administration. All the legal conditions have been fulfilled." A little-known reporter for a small, privately owned television channel, Zaidi stunned the world on December 14 when he hurled his footwear at Bush, who was on a farewell visit to the country he ordered to be invaded and occupied six years ago. His actions at a news conference won him admiration across the Arab world, with offers of plum jobs, marriage, and even a career in politics flooding in. Zaidi, 30, was initially sentenced to three years in jail for assaulting a foreign head of state, but had that reduced to one year on appeal. He is being released early because of good behaviour.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
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