Montather Al-Ziedi Still Getting Tortured (And Bush, Still Being Silent)

Photo from the BBC

No one in the American corporate media (outside of probably Olbermann and Maddow, though I'm not even sure if they have reported followups on this) has even bothered on updating on the status of Montather Al-Ziedi ever since he released his second shoe at our lame duck joke of a President.

Unfortunately, initial reports indicated that Al-Zeidi was getting tortured severely. And even more devastating to read is the fact that the infliction he is reporting taken has continued.

From Siun at Firedoglake, who has been following the journalist's condition, it seems Nouri al-Maliki continues to show signs that lead some to believe he could be the country's next dictator.

As Laura Doty mentioned over at Oxdown, more accounts of the abusive treatment of Al Zaida are appearing at the same time that Prime Minister Maliki is attempting to slander the shoe thrower with claims that: Mr. Al-Zeidi "revealed the name of the person who instigated this act". Then Al-Maliki stated that "this person is a well known murderer who is linked to beheading people".

Al-Maliki is basically trying to smear Al-Ziedi to curb any public condemnation towards the detainee. But it's not working Diabolical indeed, and so is the sentence that al-Ziedi faces:

Muntazer al-Zaidi stands accused of "aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit," an offense that carries a prison term of between five and 15 years under Iraqi law.

But the court could convict him of the lesser charge of "attempted aggression" which carries a prison term of one to five years.

And the continued torture? Here is what his brother had to say about that after seeing him for the first time in jail, two days ago:

"I met my brother for around an hour. He has been tortured while in detention for 36 hours continuously. He has been hit with iron rods and cables," the brother said.

"There is very severe bleeding in his eye, and he has bruises on his feet and nose, and he was also tortured with electric shocks.

"He was forced to sign a statement confessing to receiving money from different groups and saying that he did not throw his shoes for the honor of Iraq," Uday said.

But did he apologize then?

"But Muntazer said I will not apologize for what I did -- not now, not ever."

This is gut-wrenching stuff to the soul to read, less than two days before Christmas and during the Holiday season. But this is real life, where there is no specific epoch exempt from the stories that will shatter some hearts, make people want to punch something, or just ask themselves about the level of fairness in the human existence.

And you would think someone out there, in the nine days since this incident, would ask the Shrub about his thoughts on the situation, about what his answer was to letting the guy go or not. You would think that no one would mind answering that question after he said, "It was a just a shoe he though at me." Not a big deal huh?

Instead, add this one up to another story of importance, buried by the American media for good. And The Shrub has decided to pass on it, letting one of his cronies give this pathetic statement of differing. The same President who preached about being democracy over there, and was given the option by Maliki to let Al-Zeidi go.
This is what is said by a damn crony spokesman:

"He's in the hands of the Iraqi system. I don't have anything more on the shoe-thrower," spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters when asked if the White House was concerned about reports that the Iraqi journalist showed signs of having been tortured.

"I think that's been explored extensively and I have nothing new for you."

Which really means that Bush behind the scene gave full thumbs up to Iraq's Prime Minister, with his petty self, to let the guy get beaten as bad as they could allow. Not a surprise coming from the Administration that tortures though.

Not a surprise to anyone, at all.