After nine months in prison, Muntadhar Al-Zaidi, the Iraqi TV journalist who threw his shoes at former president George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad last December to protest the US presence in Iraq, was released on September 15, reports The LA Times. While greeted with a hero’s welcome by many in the Arab world, Al-Zaidi held a press conference in which he accused the Iraqi government of abuse and described his motivation to throw his shoes.

“I am not a hero. I admit I have a position and opinion. I was humiliated seeing my country violated and my Baghdad burnt,” Al-Zaidi said at the press conference following his release. “I was seeing with my own eyes the victims’ pain and the cries of widows and orphans…I vowed to our victims to avenge them and the opportunity came and I did not miss it for every single drop of innocent blood that was caused by the occupation.”

“Here I am free and the country is still a prisoner,” he added.

Al-Zaidi shouted, “This is your farewell kiss, you dog!” as he threw his shoes at Bush. The incident, replayed numerous times on television, led to Al-Zaidi being sentenced to three years in prison for assault. However, Iraq’s judiciary reduced his sentence to one year due to a lack of a prior record and good behavior. The incident was downplayed by the Bush administration but was a point of embarrassment for the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Al-Maliki’s government has been “keen to avoid [Al-Zaidi] being lionized after his release,” notes The Guardian.

According to The LA Times, Al-Zaidi has demanded an apology from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki “for hiding the truth from the people” of the injustices he alleges are being carried out in Iraq’s jails. He accused Iraqi government and security personnel of beating, whipping, and shocking with electricity him throughout the first days of his incarceration.

"The Iraqi prime minister was shown in the media saying he did not sleep until he checked on me[…], at these moments when he was speaking I was getting tortured in the most terrible ways possible, by electric shock, beatings by cables, being beaten by steel bars," Al-Zaidi said.

Al-Zaidi’s experience in jail stands in contrast to the “hero’s welcome” he has received in the days before and after his release, which was delayed one day because “legal procedures in Iraq often see an inmate’s liberty delayed for several extra days” due to paperwork processing delays, reports Al-Jazeera. The delay, coupled with the allegations of mistreatment, angered his family, and they threatened to stage a sit-in outside an army base in Iraq.

According to USA Today, Al-Zaidi has received offerings of cash and support. “What (he) did was heroic and deserves all this appreciation from people who hate occupation,” said his brother, Maitham Mehdi Jbarah al-Zaidi. USA Today also reports that Al-Zaidi is coming home to a fully furnished two-story villa in a posh section of Baghdad, paid for by the owner of al-Baghdadiya, the TV network which employs Al-Zaidi.

“There is talk of job offers from bigger Arab networks, lavish gifts such as sports cars from businessmen, a celebrity status, and reports that Arab women from Baghdad to the Gaza Strip want his hand in marriage,” adds Al-Jazeera.

Not all Iraqis are praising Al-Zaidi, however. Grocery store owner Hussein Oreibi told USA Today, “He should have spent more time in jail to learn how to respect guests.”

Khaleej Times, which urges the Iraqi authorities to protect Al-Zaidi from harm, takes a more balanced, reflective approach: “What Zaidi did in a fit of rage was unfortunate and does not sit well with the legendary Arab tradition of respecting one’s guests come what may. However, it is also important to see his reaction in its right perspective. The people of Iraq, and people across the Muslim world, have been devastated and outraged by the reckless and mindless destruction of the land considered the cradle of civilization.”

Al-Zaidi’s impact extends beyond Iraq and its neighbors. According to The BBC, “‘shoe-ing’ appears to have become the favored protest statement from Ahmedabad to Latvia.” It has been described as the “ultimate non-violent weapon.”

UK media lecturer Yasmin Ibrahim, author of “The Art of Shoe-Throwing,” argues that the shoe-throwing incident “has been consummately appropriated into popular culture and entertainment in the multimedia platforms of the internet, transforming political images and political protests into voyeuristic entertainment for the masses,” notes The BBC.

“Pictures of the president ducking have been etched on walls across Baghdad, made into T-shirts in Egypt, and incorporated into children’s games in Turkey,” adds The Guardian.

Shoe-throwing has been seen in Sarajevo, London and Delhi, though none have been as notorious as the incident in Iraq or elicited harsher government responses. Yet, “the speed with which Mr. Zaidi’s protest became a global phenomenon indicates it is unlikely they will go away,” concludes The BBC.