Profile: Shoe-throwing journalist

Mr Zaidi had been kidnapped, and briefly held by the US military

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush was driven by his bitter opposition to the presence of American troops in Iraq, relatives and colleagues say.

Muntadar al-Zaidi became a cult figure across the Middle East after he hurled both his shoes at Mr Bush during a press conference in Baghdad on Sunday.

While his family have claimed he acted spontaneously, colleagues suggested he had long been planning the protest.

But both agreed that the gesture, and his work as a reporter, was inspired by what he saw as the injustice of the US-led invasion of Iraq and the violence that followed.

"He is an ordinary Iraqi driven by a national sense of pride and pained by the heartbreaking, tragic situation in his homeland," a close friend and colleague, Ahmed Alaa, told IslamOnline.net.

"He was very critical of the US occupiers and Iraqi officials who were supporting them."

Kidnap

Mr Zaidi is a reporter for al-Baghdadia, a Cairo-based satellite network, where he began working in September 2005 after graduating from Baghdad University with a degree in communications.

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Colleagues and family said many of his stories focused on the victims of the violence triggered by the 2003 invasion of Iraq, including women and children.

Mr Zaidi was little-known, living in a simple, one-bedroom flat in west Baghdad.

But he had gained brief notoriety in 2007 when he was kidnapped by gunmen while reporting in Baghdad.

He was released unhurt after three days, following Iraqi TV appeals for him to be freed.

At the time, Mr Zaidi said he did not know who had kidnapped him, though his family blamed al-Qaeda.

In January, US troops detained him overnight and searched his flat before releasing him with an apology, his brother, Dhirgham, told the Associated Press.

Both experiences fuelled his brother's resentment against the US military presence in Iraq, he said.

He also said his brother - himself a Shia - despised the influence of Iranian Shia clerics over Iraqi politics and society, which is seen to have spread after the US-led invasion.

"He hates the American physical occupation as much as he hates the Iranian moral occupation," he told AP.

'Revenge'

His brother said the decision to throw his shoes at Mr Bush was spontaneous, but colleagues were quoted as saying Mr Zaidi had planned such a gesture for some time.

Muntadar al-Zaidi has been living in a simple flat in Baghdad

One of them told the New York Times: "I remember at the end of 2007 he told me, 'You will see how I will take revenge on the criminal Bush in my personal way about the crimes that he has committed against innocent Iraqi people.'"

"When he said he was going to do it, we didn't doubt him," another colleague was quoted as saying.

Before throwing his shoes at the US president, Mr Zaidi stood up and shouted "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog".

He has gone on trial in Baghdad charged with assaulting a foreign leader and faces a maximum sentence of 15 years.

People have rallied in his support across the Arab world, where there have also been reports of several offers to buy Mr Zaidi's shoes.

An internet game that offers players a chance to throw shoes at Mr Bush rapidly became a hit.