An Iraqi court today jailed for three years the journalist who shot to fame for throwing his shoes at former US president George W Bush. Muntazer al-Zaidi, a 30-year-old TV journalist, had pleaded not guilty at the hearing in the Iraq Central Criminal Court to assaulting Bush during his farewell visit to Iraq last year.

"He was sentenced to three years in jail," defence lawyer Yahia Attabi told reporters outside the Baghdad court. "We expected the decision because under the Iraqi criminal code he was charged with assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit," Attabi said, adding, "We will appeal this decision." Zaidi, whose shoe-hurling gesture is considered a grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world, had risked up to 15 years in jail on the charge of aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit.