Captured, beaten and held incommunicado by the Iraqi government, Zeidi spent about a month in the hospital, a couple of months in detention awaiting trial, and was sentenced to three years in prison. Six months later he was released and fled the country.

But now, still less than a year after finding his sudden fame, Zeidi’s whole life is about shoes. Today, in a speech in Paris, Zeidi was speculating about how much he would like to throw a shoe at current President Barack Obama, when someone threw a shoe at him.

This time, Zeidi faced a pro-US shoe, as an Iraqi who defended the American occupation and accused Muntadar of being in league with Saddam Hussein hurled a shoe at him. The as-yet-unnamed Iraqi was chased from the room by Zeidi’s brother, who reportedly threw another shoe at him.

Zeidi, a relatively anonymous reporter who rose to fame in December when he pelted outgoing President George W. Bush with shoes, had his sentence eventually reduced to a single year, and then was released three months early on the basis of his failing health.

The journalist delivered a brief statement before reporters regarding his mistreatment in Iraqi custody, then boarded a private flight to Syria, his first stop on the way to Greece where he will seek treatment for torture.

Though his brother Uday had previously reported that Zeidi had been subjected to torture in government custody, including being forced to write an “apology” letter publicly delivered by Prime Minister Maliki which claimed there was a secret “mastermind” behind the plot, this was the first time Muntadar himself had been heard on the matter.

Zeidi, who is missing a tooth since his arrest in December, says he was whipped and electrocuted, and even subjected to waterboarding by Iraqi security forces in the wake of his arrest. The reporter now says he fears for his safety and is concerned that either Iraqi government forces or US intelligence services will attempt to have him “liquidated.”

ABC News is revealing today polling data that shows Zeidi still enjoys broad support among the Iraqi populace, with 62 percent calling him a hero. His popularity was particularly broad among Sunni Arabs, with 84 percent of them saying the journalist was a hero.

Zeidi’s trial faced numerous delays, and the journalist was held totally incommunicado for nearly a month. His family has been concerned for his safety, amid reports of his mistreatment in detention. His brother organized a protest rally on his behalf in central Baghdad on Tuesday, but it was broken up by the army.

A spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Iraqi Magistrature defended the verdict, saying Zeidi had received a fair trial. There was concern that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was exerting undue pressure on the judges in his public condemnations of Zeidi, including calling the incident “a barbaric act.”

But mostly he’s waited… waited to see his family, waited to find out what he would be charged with, waited for his trial to begin. The court delayed his trial in December, He was in court today amid much fanfare, but once again, the judge adjourned the trial until next month – March 12 being the new date.

Zeidi could face several years in prison for throwing the shoes, with a key point in his trial being whether the shoes were a political protest against the American president or a serious attempt to assassinate him. Zeidi claims it was the former, that he was enraged by the “cold and spiritless smile” of President Bush and wanted to restore the pride of Iraqis through protest i.e. shoes.

The arrest was presented as a testament to the progress Iraq’s criminal justice system has made under the US occupation, with suggestions that under Saddam Hussein Zeidi would likely have been killed for what he did instead of facing an orderly trial.

Yet that trial has been postponed indefinitely. Zeidi was allowed some contact with family and lawyers in the first week after his detention, during which he claimed to have been tortured, and since then the Iraqi government has kept him totally incommunicado. He is being held at an undisclosed location, and neither his family nor his lawyer has been allowed contact with him since December 21.

With no trial forthcoming, no access to legal council or family for nearly a month, and no clue where he is being held, his family fears the worst. His brother Uday predicts “they will kill him in prison.” The Iraqi government denies torturing him, and insists he will receive a fair trial. Either way, the treatment of Zeidi will likely be a major test for Iraq’s legal system, and a message to the Iraqi public on how much things have, or haven’t, changed in the last five and a half years.

The delay is pending an appellate court ruling on what charges Zeidi will face for throwing his shoes at President George W. Bush earlier this month. The government has sought to charge Zeidi with assaulting a foreign leader, but his legal team argues he should only face a charge of insulting a leader, insisting that “the case is within context of an insult and not an intention to kill.” If the charge is reduced, Zeidi could be released on bail.

The act of defiance turned Zeidi into an international celebrity overnight, Iraqis took to the streets in the wake of the incident, calling for Zeidi’s release, and also lead to the resignation of Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud Mashhadani and indirectly the severing of Iraq’s largest Sunni political bloc.

The trial is expected to be a media circus in Iraq and a major public test of the judicial system. Reports of Zeidi’s torture in custody and claims of a coerced confession that he threw the shoes under orders from a terrorist mastermind have only added to the speculation. How long it will be until the appellate court decides the charges he will face is currently unclear.

One other thing it did was put renewed scrutiny on the Iraqi justice system and how it treats its detainees. That scrutiny is likely to be increasingly uncomfortable as Zeidi’s brother, the first family member permitted to see the journalist in jail, reports of his torture in the hours after his arrest.

The report also throws into doubt last week’s “apology” letter, which brother Uday al-Zeidi insists Muntadar wrote against his will after his torture. Prime Minister Maliki’s subsequent claim that Zeidi “confessed” that the mastermind behind the intricate plot (the sum total of which consist of removing his shoes and throwing them as hard as he could at the President’s head) was an unnamed militant known for slitting throats is likely to also face further doubts amid the allegations.

Mohammed al-Shami, the preacher at Baghdad’s main Shi’ite mosque, demanded Zeidi’s release, saying his congregation holds the Iraqi government responsible for his safety, his life, his health, and psychological condition.

At the city’s main Sunni mosque, Uthman Raheem demanded to know “why you have detained a person who made such a heroic and fair act? A stand that all of us should have taken a long time ago.”Another Sunni preacher in Fallujah, where a pro-Zeidi protest turned violent after US troops fired on students, called Zeidi a courageous man and said he honored all Iraqis with his action.

Attention was not limited to Iraq, however. Leading Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati praised Zeidi, admonishing worshippers to not overlook what he termed “the shoe intifada in Iraq.” Jannati said the shoes deserve a place in an Iraqi museum.

Unfortunately for the museums, the shoes were reported destroyed by security forces in the wake of the incident.

Zeidi’s family has expressed concern about his condition, as none of his relatives or his lawyer has been allowed to see him since his arrest on Sunday. Earlier in the week it was reported that Zeidi was hospitalized for a broken arm and broken ribs, though the judge only mentioned bruising to his face in his comments.

In the wake of the incident, Zeidi has become an international celebrity as well as something of a folk hero across the Middle East. Since then, protesters have taken to the streets in Iraq as well as other countries. It is being reported that in the West Bank village of Bilin, protesters hurled shoes at Israeli soldiers during their weekly anti-barrier protest.

Citing a hand-written letter, the contents and details of which were not made public, Majid says Zeidi asked for “the prime minister’s pardon” regarding the incident and that he expressed regret for his “big and ugly act.”

Zeidi’s apology would be a significant relief to Prime Minister Maliki, given the rising number of rallies and acts in support of the journalist’s protest. But as rumors of his injury in custody abounding, Zeidi is still being held incommunicado. The investigating judge said the injuries occurred during his arrest, not his interrogation, and that Zeidi is being treated by a doctor in the jail.

Majid insisted that Prime Minister Maliki was not pondering revenge against Zeidi for his actions, and that he intends to leave the journalist’s fate “in the hands of the law.”