Baghdad, Sep 15 (DPA) Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who famously threw his shoes at then US president George W. Bush, Tuesday said he had been tortured with electric shocks while in custody.

Speaking to reporters after his release, al-Zaidi said Iraqi security forces also beat him, held his head under water to simulate drowning, then left him in the cold all night in the 24 hours after his arrest in December.

'At the same time Iraqi Prime Minister (Nuri al-Maliki) was saying he would not sleep until he made sure I was safe, I was being tortured in all sorts of ways,' al-Zaidi said.

'I demand an apology from al-Maliki for hiding the truth about my torture in custody,' he said.

Al-Baghdadia, al-Zaidi's employer, greeted the journalist's release with a massive celebration with traditional music and flowers.

Al-Zaidi had been scheduled to be released after serving nine months in prison Monday, but paperwork delayed his release, al-Baghdadia satellite channel reported.

The journalist was initially sentenced to three years in prison for assaulting a foreign leader by hurling his shoes at Bush at a news conference and shouting, 'This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqis, you dog', but that sentence was subsequently reduced to one year on appeal, then to nine months for good behaviour.