SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2003
Iran's hardliners renew death edict on Rushdie
PTI
DUBAI: Iran's hardliners have renewed the death edict on India-born British author Salman Rushdie issued 14 years ago by the late founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, saying the sentence was "irrevocable."
The hardline Revolutionary Guards, directly answerable to Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the "fatwa" issued in 1989 following the publication of Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses was still valid.
"The historical decree on Salman Rushdie is irrevocable and nothing can change it," said a statement by the military organisation, published on Friday to pay tribute to the Iranian people for their massive participation in the demonstration marking the 24th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution victory.
In the statement quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, the hardline organisation said the late Khomeini had well seized the threats posed to the Islamic Revolution and it was based on his divine missions that he issued the edict against Rushdie.
Iran's current president, the moderate Mohammad Khatami, has said the death sentence should be seen as closed.
However, hardliners within the Iranian Republic have occasionally renewed their call for Rushdie's death for writing a novel, which they have denounced as blasphemous.
This has continued despite the Iranian government publicly committing itself in 1998 to not carrying out the death sentence, a decision which led to the signing of a deal between Iran and Britain to normalise relations.
Copyright 2003 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.