Iran Denies Connection With Rushdie Attacker

Iran has denied any connection to the man who attacked British author Salman Rushdie as he took the stage for a speech in upstate New York.

“No one has the right to accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Nasser Kanani, spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry, said on Monday during a news conference in Tehran. “In this attack, only Salman Rushdie and his supporters deserve to be blamed and even condemned.”

“By insulting the sacred things of Islam and crossing the red lines of more than one and a half billion Muslims and all followers of divine religions, Salman Rushdie has exposed himself to the anger and rage of the people,” he added.

Rushdie’s attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, was remanded without bail after pleading not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges. Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey, but his parents immigrated from Lebanon; it is not known if he acted alone.

Rushdie, 75, was stabbed in the liver and in his eye, as well as in his arm, which severed nerves. He reportedly is likely to lose the injured eye. He was taken off of a ventilator on Saturday and was able to talk and joke, according to his agent.

Rushdie since 1989 has been under a fatwa, calling for his death, issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over his novel “The Satanic Verses,” inspired by the life of the Prophet Muhammad and which Muslim leaders considered blasphemous. Khomeini died the same year. The fatwa has remained in effect as no one, including Iran’s current supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has withdrawn the edict. Khamenei, in 2017, said that the fatwas was still in effect.  Rushdie went into hiding after the fatwa, but he had dropped much of his security concerns in recent years, and had resumed some public appearances.