Muntadhar al-Zaidi holds a photo which he threw shoes at then U.S. president George W. Bush in 2008 in his campaign center in Zaafaraniyah neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, Iraq, on May 6, 2018. Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at George W. Bush in Baghdad in 2008, participates in the country's parliamentary elections, with sincere intentions to fight corruption and vowed to bring Bush and his followers, who launched the war on Iraq in 2003, to international tribunal. The vote of parliamentary election in Iraq will be held on May 12, as around 7,000 candidates will compete for the 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)
BAGHDAD, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Nearly ten years have passed since an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at George W. Bush in Baghdad and grabbed headlines of major media around the world.
Muntadhar al-Zaidi, 39, an Iraqi who was reporter for the Iraqi-owned Cairo-based al-Baghdadia TV late in 2008, became the hero in the Arab world and even internationally for those who opposed the war on Iraq that destroyed the state and led to blood baths that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Zaidi's act undoubtedly bears the meaning of humiliation to president of top power of the world, but he was also imprisoned and was forced to leave the country.
After 10 years, Zaidi returned home to participate in the country's parliamentary elections, with sincere intentions to fight corruption and vowed to bring Bush and his followers, who launched the war on Iraq in 2003, to international tribunal.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua in his campaign center in Zaafaraniyah neighborhood in southeastern Baghdad, Zaidi said his shoe throwing action was not personal because his family and relatives were not harmed directly by the U.S. troops.
"The occupation forces did not harm my own family and relatives, but they harmed my country and killed my people," Zaidi told Xinhua.
He said that his action was planned in advance by himself because he wanted to show the world that what Bush had said before the war that Iraqis would receive his troops with flowers in Baghdad was false.
"I was looking for an equal and opposite reaction that would say to the criminal (Bush) and the world that the people of Iraq would not receive the occupation with flowers, but with rejection, resistance and shoes," Zaidi added.
Zaidi told Xinhua that Maliki's guards and security forces detained and tortured him for three months until an Iraqi court sentenced him to one year in prison, but he spend only nine months as he was granted conditional discharge for his good behavior.
Zaidi talked about the suffering in the prison and said he was "whipped, tortured with electricity," and his teeth and nose were broken, and he had "suffered a fracture in his foot," in addition to keeping him for three-month in solitary confinement.
However, he said that all his pain and suffering were diminished in front of his act of throwing his shoes at Bush that he greatly proud of, and diminished "in front of the suffering of thousands of Iraqis in prisons without a reason and a guilt," according to Zaidi.
"Yes, the suffering was similar to the medieval prisons; torture, repression, forced confessions, indicting innocents on false charges," he said, adding that Iraqi also suffer from corruption such as "releasing convicts, killers, Daesh and al-Qaida members for paying money and turns the charges on other innocent people."
After Zaidi was released from prison, he left Iraq for treating his wounds and established his humanitarian foundation, which he named al-Zaidi Foundation tasked with providing aide to the victims of Iraqi violence.
Zaidi has published a book titled "The Last Salute To President Bush" that chronicling the moments leading him to his celebrated act of shoe throwing. Zaidi said that he printed his book in Arabic, Chinese and Turkish languages.
Zaidi spent much of his time outside Iraq, particularly in Beirut, Lebanon, since his release in 2009, but retuned to Baghdad before two months to announce his participation in the country's parliamentary elections.
Zaidi, an independent candidate, promised to fight fiercely the corruption in Iraq, and called for comprehensive reform under an umbrella coalition of Sa'iroon, led by the prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
"I will hold a rod to beat all the corrupt people without fear. I will be a tough figure and a nightmare for them," Zaidi pledged.
He said that he will seek trial for those corrupt people and will demand compensation for Iraqis who were affected by the violence and corruption.
Many posters spread across Baghdad, showing Zaidi carrying number 95 at Sa'iroon Coalition, but are only holding his photo with his name without referring to the shoe throwing incident to remind voters.
Zaidi told Xinhua, "I wouldn't use such publicity (to seek voters), because what I did (with Bush) is belonging to the people of Iraq and to the history, not for personal purposes, not in the past, not currently and not in the future."
"This is Sa'iroon Coalition, I bet on it in my name. I am sure and confident that this coalition is the one who will achieve the aspirations of the Iraqi people," Zaidi concluded.
The vote of parliamentary election in Iraq will be held on May 12, as around 7,000 candidates will compete for the 329 seats in the Iraqi parliament.
This will be the first general election since Iraq's historical victory over the militant Islamic State group in December last year.
