BAGHDAD // The Iraqi television reporter jailed for throwing his shoes at George W Bush was released from prison yesterday claiming he had been tortured with electric shocks and simulated drowning while in custody.
Muntazer al Zaidi had been behind bars ever since December 14, when he shouted "it is the farewell kiss, you dog," at Mr Bush, who was US president at the time, then hurled his size 10s at the man who ordered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Speaking at the office of his employer at the time of the incident, Al-Baghdadia television, Mr al Zaidi, who was missing a front tooth, said: "I was tortured with electric shocks, beaten with cables." The reporter's tone was defiant, but he denied that he was a hero, saying he had been ashamed of the suffering he had seen in his country and had seized the opportunity to insult the man he held responsible.
"For me it was a good response; what I wanted to do in throwing my shoes in the face of the criminal Bush was to express my rejection of his lies and of the occupation of my country," Mr al Zaidi said.
He added: "At the time that Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said on television that he could not sleep without being reassured on my fate ? I was being tortured in the worst ways, beaten with electric cables and iron bars."
The reporter, who is 30, said he wanted an apology from Mr al Maliki, adding that his guards had also used simulated drowning on him, the technique of waterboarding used by some US interrogators on suspects arrested after the September 11 terrorist attacks. "I am now free, but my country is still captive," he said. "I feel humiliated to see my country suffer, my Baghdad burning, and my people killed."
The journalist's family and friends ululated when they heard the news by telephone at their home in Baghdad. They prepared a sheep for slaughter in celebration of his homecoming. But the reunion was delayed because Mr al Zaidi is undergoing medical checks at Al-Baghdadia's offices. Relatives said he was exhausted and would travel abroad for treatment.
"Muntazer will go to Greece for medical treatment because he was injected with unknown chemical drugs and he suffers from a continuous headache," said a cousin, Haidar al Zaidi.
The reporter was due to have been released on Monday but legal red tape delayed his homecoming.
Although Mr al Zaidi's prison time had expired, Iraqi inmates often find their liberty held up for several days to allow the necessary prison release documents to be signed and approved.
Mr al Zaidi was initially sentenced to three years for assaulting a foreign head of state but had his jail time reduced to one year on appeal. His sentence was cut further on account of good behaviour.
Although Mr Bush, who successfully ducked to avoid the speeding footwear, laughed off the attack, the incident caused massive embarrassment, to both him and Mr al Maliki.
The leaders had been speaking at a press conference in Baghdad on what was Mr Bush's farewell visit to Iraq before being succeeded in office by Barack Obama.
Mr al Zaidi faces the prospect of a very different life from his previous existence as a journalist for Al-Baghdadia, a small, privately owned Cairo-based station, which continued to pay his salary in jail.
Mr al Zaidi's boss has promised the previously little-known reporter a new home as a reward for loyalty and the publicity that his actions, broadcast live across the world, generated for the station.
But there is talk of plum job offers from bigger Arab networks, such lavish gifts as sports cars from businessmen, guaranteed celebrity status, and reports that Arab women from Baghdad to the Gaza Strip want to marry him.
Mr al Zaidi, from Iraq's Shiite majority, was kidnapped in Baghdad and held by unknown captors for three days in 2007 and then detained for one day by US forces at the beginning of 2008, according to his brother.
The publicity that Mr al Zaidi garnered, however, means he is likely to be met by both adulation and bemusement among his countrymen, who were divided by his shoe-throwing gesture, considered a grave insult in the Arab and Muslim world.
* AFP
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
