Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes in December last year at then US president George Bush, has been released from jail to a hero's welcome.

As a TV journalist, al-Zeidi had reported on the suffering of the Iraqi people following the US-led invasion in 2003.

He said on Tuesday that the shoe-throwing was a protest against the humiliating occupation of his homeland by US troops.

Al Jazeea's Tarek Bazley reports on the news conference in Iraq following al-Zeidi's release.