A lawyer says the Iraqi journalist jailed after hurling his shoes at the former president George W Bush will be released next month after his sentence was reduced. Muntadhar al-Zeidi's act during Mr Bush's last visit to Iraq as president in December turned the 30-year-old reporter into a folk hero across the Arab world amid anger over the 2003 invasion. He was initially sentenced to three years after pleading not guilty to assaulting a foreign leader, then the court reduced it to one year because the journalist had no prior criminal history.
Defence attorney Karim al-Shujairi told AP today that the court said al-Zeidi will now be released on Sept 14, three months early. Court officials could not immediately confirm the decision. * AP
