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Salman Rushdie attack: The Satanic Verses, 33-year-old fatwa and the Iran connection

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Vivek Mishra
Vivek MishraAug 16, 2022 | 13:25

Salman Rushdie attack: The Satanic Verses, 33-year-old fatwa and the Iran connection

Rushdie has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims see as blasphemous. (Photo: Reuters)

Even though Iran has denied involvement in the attack on Salman Rushdie, many activists around the world have blamed the country as it never renounced the 1989 order calling for the writer's murder.

Iran on Monday said that Salman Rushdie and his supporters were responsible for the attack. Rushdie was attacked on Friday in New York and he suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye.

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"Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don't consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for (Rushdie) himself and his supporters," said Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry.

The assailant, Hadi Matar, 24, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault.

Rushdie, 75, has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel 'The Satanic Verses', which many Muslims see as blasphemous.

Author Salman Rushdie (L); his attacker Hadi Matar (R).

Iran's fatwa against Rushdie: On February 14, 1989, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or Islamic edict, demanding assassination of Rushdie for insulting Islam.

Khomeini, who was 89 at the time, died four months after issuing the fatwa. He had also said that anyone who was killed trying to carry out the death sentence should be considered a 'martyr' and would go to paradise.

A USD 2.8-million bounty was put on Rushdie's head.

Threat to Rushdie's life: After serious threats to his life, the British government had granted police protection to Rushdie. And, for almost 13 years, he moved between safe houses under the pseudonym of Joseph Anton, changing base 56 times in the first six months, reported AFP.

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Deaths and attacks: The Japanese translator of Rushdie's book was killed in July 1991. A few days later his Italian translator was stabbed and a Norwegian publisher was also shot two years later.

In 1993, Islamist protesters torched a hotel in Sivas in central Turkey, some of whom were angered by the presence of writer Aziz Nesin, who sought to translate the novel into Turkish. He escaped but 37 people were killed, reported AFP.

 

Iran keeps changing its stance: It has been over three decades since the fatwa was issued. But since it was never revoked, many think that it still stands. Iran has been changing its stance on the issue. In 1998, Mohammad Khatami, who was known to be a reformist President for Iran, had told the UK that it would not implement the fatwa.

Demonstrators in Tehran call for the death of Salman Rushdie in February 1989. (Photo: Getty Images)

But in 2004, Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 he still believed Rushdie was an apostate whose killing would be authorised by Islam.

Mixed reactions in Iran: In Iran's capital, some willing to speak to the AP offered praise for the assault targeting a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith with his book. I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam," said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman.

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The hard-line Iranian newspaper Vatan-e Emrouz's main story covered what it described as: A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie. The reformist newspaper Etemad's headline asked: Salman Rushdie in neighbourhood of death?

It has been over three decades since Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was published. But the recent attack on Rushdie shows that the outrage over the book is still not over.

Last updated: August 16, 2022 | 13:25
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