TEHRAN (FNA)- The Iranian culture ministry underlined that a fatwa issued by late Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 ordering Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie, the author of the blasphemous book 'The Satanic Verses', will always be alive and valid, adding that Iran will not stand attendance of Rushdie in Frankfurt book event.
"Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa is a religious decree and it will never lose its power or fade out," Deputy Culture Minister Seyed Abbas Salehi said on Monday in reaction to Rushdie's planned presence in the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair.
He noted that the Iranian culture ministry has written a letter to the head of Frankfurt Book Fair and informed him of Iran's strong protest.
On Sunday, the Iranian culture ministry voiced Tehran's strong protest at the presence of Rushdie in the inaugural ceremony of Frankfurt Book Fair, and warned that the country's publishers may boycott the event.
"Principally, I consider this move (Rushdie's presence in a press conference in the exhibition) which has been planned by Frankfurt book exhibition as a non-cultural event that is among the Islamic Republic of Iran and the culture ministry's redlines," Salehi said.
He underlined that the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa on killing Rushdie after he wrote the sacrilegious book is still alive and valid.
Salehi said Iran is now mulling if it should boycott the Frankfurt book event after it was informed of Rushdie's presence there.
Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Satanic Verses' was first published in the United Kingdom in 1988. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatullah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. Since then Rushdie is living covertly for the fear of his life.
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