Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 14, 1994 TAG: 9402140021
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TEHRAN, IRAN LENGTH: Medium
The "fatwa," or Islamic religious decree, that Khomeini issued Feb. 14, 1989, was unprecedented in modern times.
It caused a storm of international protest led by Britain, Rushdie's homeland. It widened the fissure between Islam and Christianity after centuries of distrust and strained Iran's relations with the West. It was endorsed by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents 51 Muslim states.
Rushdie has so far escaped the assassin's bullet or knife. He has been in hiding and under guard by Scotland Yard's elite Special Branch since Khomeini declared him a target, then died four months later of cancer.
The death sentence was extended to anyone associated with publishing Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses," which was called blasphemous. Several translators and others have been killed or wounded by Islamic zealots.
Iran's Khordad 15 Foundation, a religious charity, has offered a $2 million bounty to anyone who slays Rushdie. The bounty was increased last year.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor as Iran's supreme religious and political leader, has ruled the fatwa irreversible.
Western diplomats in Tehran believe that appeals to Iranian leaders to withdraw the fatwa are unrealistic, because that would mean questioning the wisdom of Khomeini as the divinely-inspired leader of the Islamic revolution. His word is considered infallible.
Rajaei Khorassani, a leading Iranian lawmaker, believes the best way to deal with the fatwa is to quietly forget about it and get on with normalizing relations.
He contended that President Hashemi Rafsanjani's government "has not made the slightest attempt against the life of Salman Rushdie, either officially or in a covert manner."
by CNB