“Taking into account attack on Salman Rushdie we are not considering anyone other than [Rushdie] and his supporters worth of accusation and even condemnation,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani. in television news conference on Monday first public response to the incident.
“We didn’t see anything else about the man who carried out this act is different from what we saw in an American media. We categorically and seriously deny any connection of attacker with Iran,” Kanaani said, according to an Iranian state media.
Rushdie, the famous British writer of Indian origin, received death threats for decades after Iran issued a fatwa, or religious decree calling for for his killing after graduation in 1988 of his book The Satanic Verses. He spent nearly a decade living under British rule. protection before moving To United States in recent years, and was repeatedly stabbed during on-scene attack in western New York on Friday.
Although Iran is not officially comment on in attack over Over the weekend, several uncompromising Iranian newspapers were showered with praise on suspect on Saturday – including conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose editor in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“A thousand bravos, a hundred God bless. His hand must be kissed … Bravo to a warrior and an obedient person who attacked the renegade and villain Salman Rushdie. Hand of the warrior must be kissed. He tore a vein of Rushdie’s neck,” the paper said.
Another uncompromising newspaper, Khorasan, published the headline “Devil on Way to hell”, showing the picture of Rushdie on stretcher.
Publication of “Satanic Verses” in 1988 made him a household name and brought him fame. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issues fatwa against to him year after.
Generosity against However, Rushdie was never raised. in 1998 Iranian government strove distance himself from the fatwa, promising not to try to carry it out.
But in In February 2017, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed the religious decree.
As well as in In 2019, Khamenei tweeted that he had said a fatwa to Khomeini. against Rushdie was ‘hard and irrevocable’, prompting Twitter place limitation on his account.
Lauren Said-Moorhouse of CNN contributed to this report.
