TRIPOLI, Dec 15: The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George Bush was given a bravery award on Monday by a Libyan charity group chaired by leader Muammar Qadhafi’s daughter.

The charity group, Wa Attassimou, also urged the Iraqi government to release television reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi after he was detained on Sunday for hurling footwear at Mr Bush and calling the president a “dog” -- both severe insults in the Middle East.

“Waatassimou group has taken the decision to give Muntazer al-Zaidi the courage award ... because what he did represents a victory for human rights across the world,” the group, headed by Aicha Qadhafi, said in a statement.

The group said the Iraqi authorities should honour the journalist for his actions.

Zaidi, accused by the Iraqi government of a “barbaric and ignominious act”, will be tried on charges of insulting the Iraqi state, said the Iraqi prime minister’s media adviser, Yasin Majeed.

Arab and Iranian TV stations have gleefully replayed the footage of the incident, which for many in the region was seen as a fittingly furious comment on what they view as Mr Bush’s calamitous Middle East legacy.

Aicha, a lawyer by training, was fiercely opposed to the US invasion of Iraq. She offered to defend Saddam Hussein after his capture by US forces from an underground hideout at the end of 2003.

After years of tension between Libya and the United States there have been recent signs that ties between the two countries are warming.—Reuters