Spain jails Kurd for shoe toss at Turkish premier

Madrid: A Syrian Kurd has been sentenced
to three years in jail in Spain for throwing a shoe at Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hokman Joma tried to hit Erdogan with a shoe February
22 as the Turkish leader got into a car during a visit to the
southern city of Seville.
Hokman shouted "Long live Kurdistan" in Spanish before
being arrested.

Turkey has been battling Kurdish rebels since 1984.

The Justice Department for the southern region of
Andalusia said today a provincial court has rejected an appeal
by Hokman and upheld the sentence passed in June.
An Iraqi journalist who tried to hit former US
President George W Bush with his shoes in Baghdad in 2008 had
a three-year sentence reduced to one year. He was released
last year.

PTI