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“Relating to the assault on Salman Rushdie, we don’t contemplate anybody apart from [Rushdie] and his supporters value of blame and even condemnation,” Iranian International Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani mentioned in a televised information convention Monday, marking the nation’s first public response to the incident.
“We now have not seen anything about the person who carried out this act apart from what we have seen from American media. We categorically and significantly deny any connection of the assailant with Iran,” Kanaani mentioned, based on Iranian state media.
Rushdie, an acclaimed Indian-born British writer, has obtained dying threats for many years after Iran issued a fatwa, or spiritual decree, calling for his killing following the 1988 launch of his ebook “The Satanic Verses.” He spent practically a decade residing below British safety earlier than transferring to the US in recent times, and was repeatedly stabbed throughout an on-stage assault in western New York on Friday.
Whereas Iran didn’t formally touch upon the assault over the weekend, a number of hardline Iranian newspapers poured reward on the suspect on Saturday — together with the conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Chief Ali Khamenei.
“A thousand bravos, 100 God blesses. His hand have to be kissed … Bravo to the warrior and dutiful man who attacked the Apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie. The hand of the warrior have to be kissed. He tore the vein of Rushdie’s neck,” the paper mentioned.
One other hardline newspaper, Khorasan, revealed a headline, “The Satan on the Path to Hell,” whereas exhibiting an image of Rushdie on a stretcher.
The publication of the “The Satanic Verses” in 1988 turned him right into a family title and introduced him notoriety. Iranian chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the fatwa towards him a 12 months later.
The bounty towards Rushdie has by no means been lifted, nevertheless in 1998 the Iranian authorities sought to distance itself from the fatwa by pledging to not search to hold it out.
However in February 2017, Iran’s Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the spiritual edict.
And in 2019, Khamenei tweeted that mentioned Khomeini’s fatwa towards Rushdie was “strong and irrevocable,” prompting Twitter to position a restriction on his account.
CNN’s Lauren Stated-Moorhouse contributed to this report.
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