The Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush was released Tuesday after nine months in prison, and said Iraqi security forces tortured him with beatings, whippings and electric shocks after his detention. Muntadhar al-Zeidi said he now feared for his life and believed that U.S. intelligence agents would chase after him.
"These fearsome services, the U.S. intelligence services and its affiliated services, will spare no efforts to track me as an insurgent revolutionary ... in a bid to kill me," he said, according to the AP.
"And here I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally," he said.
Outside his home in central Baghdad, celebrations erupted at the news of his release. "I congratulate the Iraqi people and the Muslim world and all free men across the world on the release of Muntadhar," his brother Uday stated. "Every time Bush turns a new page in his life he will find Muntadhar's shoes waiting for him." Al-Zeidi's brother said the reporter will travel to Greece on Thursday for medical checkups and because he had concerns about his safety.
