The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US president George Bush during a press conference has been beaten in custody, his brother has claimed.

Muntadar al-Zaidi was detained after hurling his shoes at Bush and calling him a "dog" during a press conference on Sunday in Baghdad.

His older brother, Dargham, told the BBC today that al-Zaidi had suffered a broken hand, ribs, suffered internal bleeding and sustained an eye injury.

According to the BBC, after the incident, al-Zaidi was detained by Iraqi authorities under the command of national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who also said the 28-year-old will be prosecuted under Iraqi law.

Reuters reported the claims of a brother calling himself Maitham, that al-Zaidi was in a hospital in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

"All that we know is we were contacted yesterday by a person - we know him - and he told us that Muntadar was taken on Sunday to Ibn-Sina hospital," Maitham al-Zaidi told Reuters. "He was wounded in the head because he was hit by a rifle butt, and one of his arms was broken."

However, the head of Iraq's journalists' union, Mouyyad al-Lami, told the BBC that officials had informed him al-Zaidi was being treated well and said that he hoped to visit his colleague at some stage.

Al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at Bush as an insult, his family claims, as he blamed the US president for the thousands of Iraqi deaths since the invasion of his homeland in 2003.

He has been hailed as hero by some and rallies across the Arab world have called for the al-Baghdadia TV journalist to be released.

This is not the first time the young reporter has been the subject of news reports.

In November last year, the Shia journalist was kidnapped as he walked to work and held for more than 48 hours. On release he said his captors, who were suspected of being al-Qaida members, had questioned him about his work and beaten him.

In January he was detained by American troops searching his building but released after a day with an apology.