Iraqi lawmakers disagree over shoe-thrower

BAGHDAD, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Iraqi parliament members clashed Wednesday over the detention of an Iraqi television reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George Bush, officials said.

Disagreement erupted after lawmakers demanded that parliament take up the issue of the detained journalist Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, who threw his shoes at Bush, just missing his head Sunday during a Baghdad press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, The New York Times reported.

Parliament ended Wednesday without a consensus on what action to take regarding the reporter, said a spokesman for Speaker of Parliament Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.

Al-Zaidi could be charged with assaulting a foreign head of state under the Iraqi penal code, Iraqi Central Criminal Court sources told CNN Wednesday. Al-Zaidi faces up to seven years in prison if he is charged with, and convicted of, offending the head of a foreign state, the Times reported.

Al-Zaidi met Tuesday with a judge who referred the case to trial, CNN reported. Al-Zaidi's employer, al-Baghdadia television, confirmed the meeting took place at the reporter's holding cell in Baghdad.

The trial date was not known.