Wednesday
Dec172008
Tragic Comedy of Iraqi Shoes: Update on Muntazar al-Zaidi
Wednesday, December 17, 2008 at 8:39
These may be the most horribly comic sentences I have read in 2008. From The Times of London yesterday:
Muntazar al-Zaidi enjoyed his freedom of expression by taking a beating from Iraqi security men. He may have broken ribs, a broken arm, and/or a broken hand. He has appeared in court to plead guilty to "aggression against a president". According to a spokesman for the Iraqi Judicial Council, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.
This, however, can be celebrated as an American- and British-bequeathed freedom to Iraq. After all, as Christopher Howse of The Daily Telegraph assures, "Though I do not envy [al-Zaidi] his time in an Iraqi jail, at least he has not been despatched as he would have been under Saddam."
Thank goodness for Patrick Cockburn of The Independent, who is almost the only American or British journalist I read this morning to set out the full story. The Times does have a follow-up story on its "freedom of expression", although somewhat bizarrely its reporter assures that al-Zaidi was "carried away by prime ministerial guards [with] no sign of excessive violence". (The Guardian has an opinion piece by Samir Ramadani praising al-Zaidi but otherwise ignores the story today.)
In the US, The New York Times has a lengthy article, but it plays down the possible jail time --- no more than seven years and as little as 12 months --- and the possibility of al-Zaidi's injuries. And in The Washington Post?
Nothing. Not a word.
All those in the Arab world who hailed al-Zaidi's actions should ask themselves what would happen in their own countries if a local journalist tried to hurl insults at President Mubarak of Egypt or President Assad of Syria....Iraq is far from perfect, but at least its people have learnt to enjoy freedom of expression.
Muntazar al-Zaidi enjoyed his freedom of expression by taking a beating from Iraqi security men. He may have broken ribs, a broken arm, and/or a broken hand. He has appeared in court to plead guilty to "aggression against a president". According to a spokesman for the Iraqi Judicial Council, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in jail.
This, however, can be celebrated as an American- and British-bequeathed freedom to Iraq. After all, as Christopher Howse of The Daily Telegraph assures, "Though I do not envy [al-Zaidi] his time in an Iraqi jail, at least he has not been despatched as he would have been under Saddam."
Thank goodness for Patrick Cockburn of The Independent, who is almost the only American or British journalist I read this morning to set out the full story. The Times does have a follow-up story on its "freedom of expression", although somewhat bizarrely its reporter assures that al-Zaidi was "carried away by prime ministerial guards [with] no sign of excessive violence". (The Guardian has an opinion piece by Samir Ramadani praising al-Zaidi but otherwise ignores the story today.)
In the US, The New York Times has a lengthy article, but it plays down the possible jail time --- no more than seven years and as little as 12 months --- and the possibility of al-Zaidi's injuries. And in The Washington Post?
Nothing. Not a word.