Shoe-Thrower's Swiss Dreams

In the weeks since he wrenched off his shoes and chucked them at President Bush during a Baghdad press conference, Iraqi correspondent Muntadhar al-Zeidi, 30, has been cooling his boots in an undisclosed, highly secure location, where he's alleged to have been tortured. It's no surprise, then, that he wouldn't mind a change of scenery, perhaps to somewhere more hospitable, like Switzerland. Zeidi's Geneva-based lawyer, Mauro Poggia, today told the Associated Press that his client seeks asylum in the Alpine nation because staying in Iraq—or any Muslim nation—would endanger his life. Although many on the Muslim street hailed Zeidi as a hero, Poggia offers an impressively counterintuitive explanation about Zeidi's peril: "People who support his action could try to make him a martyr." The question of Zeidi's potential relocation is, for the moment, moot, as he remains in custody on charges of assaulting a foreign leader; a trial date has been postponed.