The novelist, who has lived under death threats for decades since angering clerical authorities in Iran through his writing, is recovering after being stabbed repeatedly at a public appearance in New York state. read more In Iran’s first official reaction to Friday’s attack, ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said freedom of speech did not justify Rushdie’s insults against religion. His 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” is considered by some Muslims to contain blasphemous passages. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register “(Regarding) the attack on Salman Rushdie, we do not consider anyone other than himself and his supporters worthy of … censure and condemnation,” Kanani told a news conference. “No one has the right to blame Iran for this.” Writers and politicians around the world have condemned the attack. His agent told Reuters that Rushdie had suffered serious injuries, including nerve damage to his hand and injuries to his liver, and was likely to lose an eye. read more A spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was “ridiculous” to suggest that Rushdie was responsible for the attack. “It was not just an attack on him, it was an attack on the right to freedom of speech and expression,” the spokesman told reporters. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Sunday that Iranian state institutions had fomented violence against Rushdie for generations and state media glorified his assassination attempt. The Indian-born author has had a bounty on his head since “The Satanic Verses” was published in 1988. The following year, Iran’s then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or edict, calling on Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in publishing the book. In 1991, the novel’s Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed to death. A former student of Igarashi’s on Monday renewed calls for an investigation into his murder, the Ibaraki Shimbun newspaper reported. A police spokesman told Reuters the investigation was still active and the statute of limitations on the crime, which expired in 2006, could be lifted. The novel’s Italian translator was injured in 1991, and two years later its Norwegian publisher was shot and seriously injured. Author Salman Rushdie listens during the opening press conference of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Germany October 13, 2015. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/File Photo read more In 1998, Iran’s pro-reform government of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa, saying the threat against Rushdie – who had lived in hiding for nine years – was over. However, in 2019, Twitter suspended the account of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over a tweet that said the fatwa was “irrevocable”.
SEVERE REACTIONS
Rushdie, 75, has lived relatively openly in recent years. He was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Foundation in western New York about the importance of the United States as a haven for targeted artists when police said a 24-year-old man rushed the stage and stabbed him. Ministry spokesman Kanani said Rushdie “exposed himself to popular anger by insulting Islamic sanctities and crossing the red lines of 1.5 billion Muslims.” Kanaani said Iran had no information about the novelist’s suspected attacker other than what had appeared in the media. The suspect, Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday, his court-appointed attorney, Nathaniel Barone, told Reuters. An initial review of Matar’s social media accounts showed he was sympathetic to Shiite extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to NBC New York. Washington accuses the IRGC of waging a global extremism campaign. The IRGC-affiliated Jam-e Jam and other hardline Iranian state media celebrated the attack. Matar is the son of a man from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, according to Ali Tehfe, the town’s mayor. Matar’s parents immigrated to the United States, where he was born and raised, the mayor said, adding that he had no information on their political views. The Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah wields significant influence in Yaroun, where posters of Khomeini and IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani, who were killed by a US drone strike in 2020, adorned walls over the weekend. A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Saturday that the group had no additional information on Friday’s attack. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Dubai Newsroom. Additional reporting by Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Elizabeth Piper in London. Written by Michael Georgy. Edited by John Stonestreet Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
