"This was a form of insult... If he had wanted to hurt George Bush, he would have chosen a different weapon," Medea Benjamin of the Codepink peace activism group told AFP at a rally of about a dozen people outside the Iraqi consulate in Washington.

Zaidi, 29, threw his shoes at Bush during the US president's surprise visit to Iraq on December 14, an action considered a grave insult in the Arab world.

He is due to appear in court in Baghdad on Wednesday on charges of "aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit," an offense which could see him go to jail for up to 15 years.

Handing down a stiff sentence to Zaidi would "fan the flames of anti-Americanism," said Benjamin of Codepink, founded by US women in 2002.

"This should be seen as a non-violent act of civil disobedience which, as Bush said, happens in a democratic society. If indeed that is the case, then he should be pardoned."

The protesters tried to hand-deliver a petition for Zaidi's release to the Iraqi ambassador to Washington, but "there was nobody at the embassy to receive us," Benjamin said.

The court could convict Zaidi of "attempted aggression," a lesser charge which carries a prison term of one to five years, but the US protesters insisted he should be pardoned.

"We want the Iraqi government and the world to know that there is a very good sentiment for him to be set free," said Nick Mottern, director of Consumers for Peace.

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