Man who threw shoe at Afghan Mujahedeen leader released

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghan officials have released a man who was taken into custody for throwing a shoe at a senior Mujahedeen leader during last Friday’s prayers.

Jailani Farhad, spokesman for the governor in Herat, told Anadolu Agency that Abdul Wahid Dadshani, an Afghan university student, had been released following investigations. He denied allegations of torture.

Sayed Hamid, Dadshani’s attorney, said his client was forced by security forces to apologize to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, chief of the Hezb-e-Islami party, the shoe’s intended target.

The local Tolo News quoted Hamid claiming that Dadshani was taken to Hekmatyar’s residence where he was beaten up by his men.

Dadshani caused an uproar in Afghanistan when he threw his shoe at Hekmatyar inside a mosque in the western Herat province, bordering Iran.

Dadshani was bundled up by security forces and taken into custody.

The story echoed an infamous incident in 2008, when then-U.S. President George W. Bush, during a Baghdad press conference, had to dodge a shoe thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist.

In initial remarks, Hekmatyar was forgiving of the shoe-throwing student, instead blaming the incident on “foreign spies”.

After returning from nearly two decades in self-imposed exile last year after the landmark Afghan peace deal, Hekmatyar has been outspoken in criticizing Iran’s alleged meddling in Afghanistan.