Iran blames the attack on Rushdie and his supporters

According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry, only Salman Rushdie and his fans are to blame for the novelist’s attack on Friday.

 

Rushdie is recovering after being stabbed multiple times during a public event in New York.

 

Freedom of expression does not justify Rushdie’s insults to religion in his writing, according to ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani.

 

Since the release of his 1988 novel ‘The Satanic Verses,’ which some Muslims believe contains blasphemous sections, the Indian-born writer has lived with a bounty on his head.

 

In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s then-Supreme Leader, issued a fatwa, or edict, ordering Muslims to kill the novelist and anybody involved in the book’s release.

 

The Iranian government said in 1998 that it would no longer support the fatwa, and Rushdie has been living more openly in recent years.

 

‘By offending Islamic sanctities and breaching the red lines of 1.5 billion Muslims, Salman Rushdie exposed himself to popular fury,’ Kanaani stated.

 

‘During the attack on Salman Rushdie, we see no one but himself and his supporters as deserving of contempt, reproach, and condemnation… No one has the authority to condemn Iran in this matter.’

 

He stated that Iran had no more knowledge about Rushdie’s assailant other than what had been reported in the media.