Iran rejects involvement in attack on Salman Rushdie

Tehran, Aug 15: Iran has denied any involvement in the attack on Indian-born writer Salman Rushdie in the US last week.

“There is no connection between Iran and the perpetrator,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday.

“Rushdie himself is responsible for the attack,” dpa news agency quoted Kanaani as saying, noting that the author’s work not only offended Iran, but Muslims worldwide.

Rushdie was stabbed onstage as he was about to deliver a lecture in New York State on August 12.

The writer is recovering in hospital and a 24-year-old suspect is in custody.

The Indian-born Briton’s novel “The Satanic Verses” led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s.

Iran is increasingly coming in for criticism in the international community over a death sentence issued against the respected author in the 1980s.

Late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious edict, or fatwa, sentencing Rushdie to death more than 30 years ago because of the “The Satanic Verses”, published in 1988.

Khomeini accused Rushdie of insulting Islam, the prophet Mohammed and the Quran in his novel.

–IANS