An Iraqi court sentenced on Thursday an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush to three years in prison.

Defiant Muntadhar al-Zaidi, 30, had pleaded not guilty at the court room of the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.

Judge Abdul Amir Hassan al-Rubaie asked Zaidi during Thursday's session "are you innocent?"

Zaidi immediately answered "yes, your honor, my reaction was natural, just like any Iraqi would have done."

Reporters and Zaidi's family members and relatives were then ordered to leave the courtroom for the verdict which sent Zaidi to three years in prison for assaulting visiting foreign leader.

"The sentence for Zaidi is harsh, and we as Zaidi's defense team will contest the sentence in the appeals court," Dhiyaa al- Saadi, head of Zaidi's 25-lawyer defense team, told reporters.

Zaidi's lawyers have 30 days from the date of issuing the verdict to submit their demand to revise the verdict in the appeals court, according to the Iraqi law.

Some of Zaidi's family members and relatives angrily denounced the ruling against Zaidi, shouting "down with Bush" and "long live Iraq."

Zaidi's brother Dhirgham said with tears in his eyes that the "trial was politically motivated and its verdict was already decided."

Zaidi, himself, shouted "long live Iraq" when the judge read the verdict.

During the trial, Saadi demanded the court that charges against his client be dismissed as his client's actions was only an expression of freedom not a crime.

However, the court spokesman Abdul Razaq al-Bayraqdar said Zaidi received the minimum sentence for the charge that he could receive up to 15 years in prison.

"Al-Zaidi was sent for three years in jail according to article 23 from the Iraqi Judicial Law, which considers his action an assault on a foreign leader during official visit," Bayraqdar said.

In his previous appearance on Feb. 19, Zaidi told the court that he could not control his emotions when he saw Bush who ordered war on Iraq in March 2003 in front of him.

Diyaa al-Saadi, head of Zaidi's 25-lawyer defense team, said "Zaidi did not commit a homicide or intend to commit one, but he was only trying to express his rejection to the killing of his people."

Zaidi has been held in custody after he threw his shoes at Bush during a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki in Baghdad on Dec. 14, 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency March 13, 2009)