Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[Zeev Hed]

Iran's hardline guards renew Rushdie death threat

By Reuters




TEHRAN - Iran's Revolutionary Guards renewed a death sentence on British author
Salman Rushdie on Friday, the anniversary of the "fatwa" against the writer issued by
former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"The historical decree on Salman Rushdie is irrevocable and nothing can change it," the
elite Revolutionary Guards said in a statement quoted by the official IRNA news agency.

The father of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution condemned Rushdie to death in 1989 for
alleged blasphemy against Islam in his novel "The Satanic Verses."

"The issued fatwa is still valid," said the statement by the hardline military organization,
which answers directly to Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran's moderate President Mohammad Khatami said in 2001 the death sentence against
Rushdie should be seen as closed.

But Iranian hardliners have continued to call for his death on some occasions, despite a
1998 deal by Iran and Britain to normalize relations after Tehran pledged to distance itself
from efforts to kill the author.

Government officials in Iran could not be reached to comment on the Revolutionary Guards
statement.

In London, Britain's Foreign Office said: "This is not the first time that statements have
been made that are contrary to oft-repeated official Iranian policy."

"Iranian Foreign Minister (Kamal) Kharrazi affirmed to (Britain's then-Foreign Secretary)
Robin Cook on December 24, 1998 that the 'government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has
no intention, nor is it going to take any action whatsoever, to threaten the life of the author
of the Satanic Verses or anyone associated with his work,'" a Foreign Office statement
said.

Rushdie was forced into hiding when Khomeini issued the fatwa in 1989 but has
appeared more frequently in public in recent years. He lived in 30 different secret
locations in Britain for nine years.