Dubai: A Saudi man has offered to pay $10 million (Rs 48 crore) for the pair of shoes that an Iraqi journalist hurled at US President George W Bush during a press conference in Baghdad.

Mohamed Makhafa, a retired school teacher, says he considers the size 10s a "medal of freedom and more valuable than everything he owns".

Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who became famous overnight in the Arab world, had thrown his shoes at Bush. "It is more precious than all my property. I will bequeath it to my children and display it in a museum and call it the Medal of Freedom," said Makhafa.