The Iraqi shoe-thrower: a national hero guardian.co.uk

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush has marked his release from jail by angrily defending his action and claiming he was tortured after his arrest.

Muntazer al-Zaidi's supporters and family gave him a rapturous welcome, sacrificing six sheep to mark his release and hanging laurels of flowers around his neck.

Wearing an Iraqi flag, Zaidi gave a detailed account of being tortured after his arrest, and vowed to reveal the names of senior officials in the Iraqi government and army who he said had been involved in his mistreatment.

Appearing with a missing front tooth, he told of beatings, whippings and electric shocks after his arrest. He said he now feared for his life, and believed US intelligence agents would chase after him.

"These fearful services, the US intelligence services and its affiliated services, will spare no efforts to track me as an insurgent revolutionary ... in a bid to kill me," he told the news conference.

"And here I want to warn all my relatives and people close to me that these services will use all means to trap and try to kill and liquidate me either physically, socially or professionally."

The reporter said he was abused immediately after his arrest, and the next day. He said he was beaten with iron bars, whipped with cords and electrocuted in the backyard of the building in the Green Zone.

"In the morning, I was left in the cold weather after they splashed me with water," he said.

He went on to defend his assault on Bush. "Simply put, what incited me toward confrontation is the oppression that fell upon my people and how the occupation wanted to humiliate my homeland by placing it under its boots," he said.

Zaidi said "throwing shoes against the war criminal Bush" was his answer to the cries of those bereaved by the conflict.

"The criminal murderer is standing here expecting us to throw flowers at him; this was my flower to the occupier."

Zaidi also talked of seeing "many, many massacres in every inch of our homeland" and of "witnessing the screams of victims and the cries of bereaved women".

Speaking through a translator at the headquarters of his employers, the al-Baghdadiya television station, he said he had "vowed to the victims" that he would take revenge.

He described the press conference with Bush as "an opportunity I could not waste".

His brother Uday told Reuters: "Thanks be to God that Muntazer has seen the light of day. I wish Bush could see our happiness. When President Bush looks back and turns the pages of his life, he will see the shoes of Muntazer al-Zaidi on every page."

Zaidi's family had been told not to hold a highly visible public celebration to mark his release. Nine months on, the shoe-throwing incident remains highly embarrassing to the prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who seems determined not to allow the Iraqi journalist who humbled George Bush to be feted with hero status.

But in Zaidi's one-bedroom apartment in the riverside suburb of Rashid, family members were dancing and preparing food, even through it is Ramadan, the holy month during which Muslims are forbidden from eating and drinking during daylight hours.

In contrast to yesterday, Zaidi's three brothers were remaining tight-lipped about his next move. His employers were anticipating him returning to work. However it seems most likely that Zaidi will travel to Greece to address health concerns. He also has a standing invite from the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, as well as the offer of citizenship and $100,000 from the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez.

Zaidi told his brothers from prison during the past few days that he wants to continue working with Iraq's underclass as well as those disadvantaged by the six-year occupation.

But his life is sure to be transformed dramatically. His supporters and regimes across the Middle East are determined to hail Zaidi as a David and Goliath figure who finally did what leaders in the region had been too cowed to do.

Zaidi's three brothers had said that they feared for his life. A brand new four-bedroom house bought and furnished for him by his employers is set to remain empty until Zaidi's security can be assured.