Shoe-thrower 'seeks asylum in Switzerland'

An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at US President George W. Bush in Baghdad last month is to seek political asylum in Switzerland, a Geneva lawyer told the daily La Tribune de Geneve yesterday.

Muntazer al-Zaidi gained instant international fame when he threw his shoes at Bush during the US president's farewell visit to Iraq on December 14, an action considered a grave insult in the Arab world.

"At the beginning of the month his family contacted me via the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and I shall write this week to the federal department (ministry) of foreign affairs to encourage Switzerland to grant him political asylum," lawyer Mauro Poggia told the paper.