Iran blames Salman Rushdie for attack

Euskaraz irakurri: Iranek ukatu egin du Rushanimals erasotzailearekin inolako loturarik izatea, eta idazlea jo du seantzule bakar

Iran’s government on Monday rejected any relationship with the writer’s Friday attack in New York Salman Rushdiewhom he has nevertheless accused of crossing “red lines” with his lyrics and of “insulting” Islam.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Naser Kanani has assured in a public appearance that Tehran is not related to the attacker, identified as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man of Lebanese descent, according to the Mehr agency. “We don’t consider anyone but him (Rushdie) and his followers deserving of the blame and even condemnation,” he said.

Kanani, has spared no criticism against Rushdie, of whom he is accused “exposing” himself with his writings to the “anger” of 1.5 billion Muslims and from followers of other religions, crossing all kinds of “red lines”.

The British writer of Indian descent is in a hospital in New York and although his condition is serious, he is doing well and has not needed a ventilator since Sunday.

Rushdie has been in Iran’s crosshairs ever since 1989 Ayatollah Ruholah Khomeini one issued fatwa that openly calls for his murder for the publication of ‘Satanic Verses’, which are considered blasphemous in part of the Muslim world.

In the late 1990s, then-moderate Iranian President Mohammad Khatami distanced himself from the fatwa, saying the government was not interested in Rushdie’s death.

However, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, reiterated the fatwa in 2017: “The decree continues as Khomeini issued it,” he said, and two years later would again emphasize that the fatwa is “irrevocable.”

The edict of the founder of the Islamic Republic is still in force and the press associated with the Iranian clerical establishment did not hesitate to celebrate Rushdie’s stabbing, but this Monday the Iranian government, in its first official assessment, distanced itself from it. the aggression per se.