The Iraqi journalist who became a national folk hero after throwing his shoes at former US President George W. Bush will go on trial on February 19th.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi's defense team says he faces the original charge of assaulting a foreign leader.

He was to have gone on trial in December but his defense team won a delay while it unsuccessfully sought to reduce the charges to insulting Bush.

The 30-year old journalist has been in custody since the December 14th outburst at Bush's joint news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

His lawyers will now ask for his release on bail. If convicted he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

(CCTV February 9, 2009)