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There was no official reaction yet in Iran to the attack on
Rushdie, who was stabbed in the neck and torso on Friday while
onstage at a lecture in New York state.
However, the hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is
appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote:
“A thousand bravos ... to the brave and dutiful person who
attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York,"
adding, “The hand of the man who tore the neck of God's enemy
must be kissed”.
The leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989
that called on Muslims around the world to kill the Indian-born
author after his book was condemned as blasphemous, forcing him
into years of hiding.
In 2019, Twitter suspended Khamenei’s account over a tweet that
said Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie was “solid and
irrevocable”.
The Asr Iran news site on Saturday carried an often cited quote
by Khamenei that said the "arrow" shot by Khomeini "will one day
hit the target".
A wealthy Iranian religious organization offered $2.7 million
reward to anyone who carried out Khomeini's fatwa. It increased
the amount to $3.3 million in 2012.
The headline of the hardline Vatan Emrooz newspaper read: “Knife
in Salman Rushdie’s neck”.
The Khorasan daily carried the headline: “Satan on the way to
hell”.
New York police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a
24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who had bought a pass
to the event at the Chautauqua Institution. No motive has been
established for the attack.
Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday
evening after the incident, condemned by writers and politicians
around the world as an assault on the freedom of expression.
(dubai.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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