Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Great. Never miss a chance to give bad name to Islam and Muslims.

Salman Rushdie Death Fatwa: Iran Adds To Reward For Author’s Killing

TEHRAN, Iran – A semi-official religious foundation in Iran has increased a reward it had offered for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie to $3.3 million from $2.8 million, a newspaper reported, days after protests coursed through the Muslim world over alleged insults to the Prophet Muhammad.

Hardline Jomhoori Eslami daily and other newspapers reported on Sunday that the move appeared to be linked to protests over an amateurish anti-Islam film, which crowds in some 20 countries said drove them to defend their faith – in some cases by attacking American embassies.

The report said the 15 Khordad Foundation will pay the higher reward to whoever acts on the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which called for the death of the author “The Satanic Verses” because the novel was considered blasphemous.

The paper said the decision to boost the original reward, offered in the 1990s, came from foundation head Ayatollah Hassan Saneii.

“As long as the exalted Imam Khomeini’s historical fatwa against apostate Rushdie is not carried out, it won’t be the last insult. If the fatwa had been carried out, later insults in the form of caricature, articles and films that have continued would have not happened,” the paper quoted Saneii as saying.

Iran’s hardliners say Khomeini’s fatwa is “irrevocable.”

In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support the fatwa, but at the same time the government said it could not rescind the edict, since under Islamic law, that could be done only by the person who issued it. Khomeini died in June 1989.

Khomeini’s fatwa sent Rushdie into hiding under police protection, but that didn’t stop him from writing more novels. In 1990, he published an apology and reiterated his respect for Islam.

Also on Sunday, thousands of clerics gathered in seminaries across Iran to protest the anti-Islamic movie, state TV reported.

Ahmad Khatami, an ally of the country’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told a gathering in In the holy city of Qom, 130 kilometers south of the capital Tehran, that the United States and Israel were the “main suspects” in the case.

His remarks prompted "death to Israel and “down with the U.S.” chants by demonstrators.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Who cares. As a foreign journalist told Rushdie when the book first came out in the '80s, "Oh, don't worry too much, Khomeini sentences the President of the United States to death every Friday afternoon."

Religious kooks are as important as you make them. The more attention they receive, the more politically relevant they become. They bait and we bite. Which makes us pretty retarded fish.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

^I am sure Rushdie sure cares as he has had at least 2 serious life attempts and there is still permanent stationing of guards in the house he lives despite 2 decades been passed since the fatwa. In fact just today he said to the BBC that the threats he received had "long-term chilling effect". So I guess the foreign journo you talked about was quite off in his guess.

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Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Put a dent in their minds about muslims does it? Lol.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Thanks for making that arrogant self obsessed man more famous and expensive.
he is becoming god for the liberal open minded people who value freedom of speech.

he is like veena malik of literary world, more he exposes , more hate he gets and more famous he becomes.

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Re: Rushdie’s Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author’s Killing

They clearly don’t understand the West. If Rushdie were to ever be killed, the number of insulting films, pictures, and articles offensive to these religious extremists would be 1000 fold in the name of protecting freedom of speech. The fundamentalists can rage for 10,000 days and burn down every embassy in the world, the U.S. will never reign in freedom of speech because some find it offensive. And those who are anti-Islamic see how easily they can control so many of them as if they were puppets on a string just by producing something offensive. The moderate Muslim is being drown out by the screams of these fools.

Meanwhile in Pakistan

“a second protester died in a separate demonstration over the film in Lahore after complaining that he felt ill from inhaling smoke from American flags set fire at an anti-U.S. rally.”

Anti-US protests erupt in Kabul as Western missions tighten security - World News

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

I have not read the novel but I heard that the novel is not just anti Islamic but also anti Iran. It makes fun of Iranian government and it's philosophy. That may be the reason why Iran government was so quick to condemn Rushdie, and still continues to be interested in him even after so much water has passed under the bridge.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Religion of Peace......we are not

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News alert: you dont have free speech. You can drop the pretense now.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Why would you say that?

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

I figured it was obvious the journalist was being tongue-in-cheek. A jocular way of saying get over yourself, you're not the only one on a black list. Rushdie was freaked out, to be sure, but I don't think he really cares. Unlike dissenting Iranian academics, artists and activists, he has the resources to live in the West with police protection. His response to death threats at some point was, "I wish I had written a more critical book." He felt humiliated and disgusted with himself after issuing an apology out of fear, and understandably so. He takes pride in being a rebel, which makes him a darling in literary circles. Controversy is an occupational hazard, and Rushdie knows it well.

This is in no way meant to trivialize threats of this kind; I feel very strongly about criminalizing speech. His freedom of expression should be defended. I'm just tired of Muslims treating fatwas as if they were binding. They're opinions, and the dumber the opinion the more air-time it gets. I think counter-fatwas should be issued in protest. Meanwhile somebody offer to pay Iran's clerics $3.3 million to shut the hell up.

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Surely must be some way to contact the late Ayatollah. Ouija board?

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Re: Rushdie's Death Fatwa: Iran Adds $3.3 million Reward For Author's Killing

Iran is funny really they been saying they will kill this idiot more than 30 years ago nothing happen.

They said they will destroy israel since last 30 years and every year same speech we gonna finish israel.

Upto today i have'nt even seen Iran throw one peanut in israel direction they same like pakistan leaders and egyptian leaders talk big but in reality they just like to get fat being western stooges and doing nothing for their people who suffering.