• Iranian Hardline Newspapers Praise Attacker of Salman Rushdie

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    Iranian Hardline Newspapers Praise Attacker of Salman Rushdie




    "Times New Roman";color:#2E2E2E"> Digital Desk: A few hardliners Salman Rushdie, whose book
    "The Satanic Verses" had attracted death threats from Iran since
    1989, was stabbed and critically injured on Saturday, and admiration for the
    attacker was showered on Iranian newspapers.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and body on Friday while giving
    a lecture in New York State, but there has been no official response from Iran
    to the incident as of yet.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">The conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose chief editor is chosen
    by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, however, wrote.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">The hand of the person who tore the neck of God's enemy must be
    kissed, the speaker continued, adding, "A thousand bravos... to the brave
    and dutiful individual who attacked the apostate and vile Salman Rushdie in New
    York."



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">After his work was deemed to be blasphemous in 1989, the late
    Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the architect of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution,
    issued a fatwa, or religious decree, ordering Muslims worldwide to kill the
    Indian-born author, sending him into years of hiding.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">In response to a tweet that stated that Khomeini's fatwa against
    Rushdie was "firm and irrevocable," Twitter suspended Khamenei's
    account in 2019.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">An often-quoted statement by Khamenei that the "arrow"
    fired by Khomeini "will one day hit the target" was published on the
    Asr Iran news website on Saturday.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">Anyone who followed Khomeini's edict may get a $2.7 million
    award from a powerful Iranian religious group. In 2012, it boosted the sum to
    $3.3 million.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">"Knife in Salman Rushdie's neck," said the headline of
    the conservative Vatan Emrooz daily.



    mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";
    color:#2E2E2E">"Satan on the way to hell," read the headline of the
    Khorasan daily.



    Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old Fairview, New Jersey man who had
    purchased a permit to the event at the Chautauqua Institution, was the suspect,
    according to New York authorities. There is no known reason behind the strike.



    After the incident, which was denounced as an infringement
    on his right to free speech by authors and politicians worldwide, Rushdie was
    put on a ventilator and unable to speak on Friday evening.