Iraqi MP hurls shoe at colleague

Female Iraqi MP Alia Nasseef hurled a shoe at her colleague Salman al-Jameeli today for using "foul language and expletives" towards her, it has emerged. The incident occurred during a parliamentary session today, where al-Jameeli, leader of the al-Iraqiya party verbally attacked Nasseef for televised remarks she made earlier in the week, where she accused several MPs including al-Jameeli of vote-rigging. In response, Nasseef, a member of the separate splinter group al-Iraqiya al-Hurra, threw a shoe at al-Jameeli. It is not clear whether the shoe actually hit him.                                                                          Nasseef told Arabstoday that al-Jameeli used “foul language” in his attack against her and vowed to sue him "before the courts as well as tribally." "I told a programme on TV that MPs Haidar al-Mulla and Salman al-Jameeli had prevented MPs from entering the parliament hall to vote on the budget. After that MP Qutaiba al-Jubouri phoned me to tell me that al-Jameeli would attack me," said Nasseef.  "Al-Jameeli carried out his threat and attacked me using foul language and expletives," she said.  "History will not forgive (al-Jameeli) nor anyone who plotted against Iraq," she said. Meanwhile, speaker of the Council of Representatives of Iraq, Osama al-Nujaifi, presided over Thursday's parliamentary session, in the absence of some al-Iraqiya and Kurdistan Alliance MPs who are boycotting the vote on the federal budget in protest against the bill.