Baghdad, 12 March (AKI) - The Iraqi journalist Montazer al-Zaidi, who was jailed for three years on Thursday for throwing his shoes at former US president George W. Bush, received a fair trial, the Iraqi magistrates' governing body told Adnkronos International (AKI).

"The sentence was passed by professional and independent Iraqi judges who were not subject in any way to political or government pressure," the Supreme Council of the Iraqi Magistrature's official spokesman Abd al-Sattar al-Birqadar said.

"The sentence is not final unless it is ratified by the Court of Cassation, which has a month to uphold or amend the verdict," he said, referring to the three-year sentence handed to al-Zaidi.

Iraq's Criminal High Court invoked article 223 of the Iraqi constitution in sentencing al-Zaidi. It sets a punishment of between three and 15 years in prison for assaulting a foreign leader on an official visit, al-Birqadar said.

Al-Zaidi hurled his shoes at Bush during a farewell media conference in Baghdad last December, calling Bush a "dog" and saying it was a "farewell kiss" from those who had been killed, orphaned and widowed in Iraq.

His actions were condemned by the Iraqi government as "shameful" although Bush - who managed to duck both shoes - shrugged off the incident.

But al-Zaidi's gesture made international headlines and turned him into a hero in the Arab world with shoe-throwing becoming worldwide symbol of dissent and protest.

In the most high-profile 'copycat' attack, a German protester threw a shoe at Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, during a speech at Cambridge University.