Iran has denied any involvement in the attack on controversial writer Salman Rushdie

Iran has 'unequivocally' denied any link with the attacker who stabbed controversial British writer Salman Rushdie, blaming the attack on the controversial writer himself and his supporters.

Nasser Kanani

According to the report of the foreign news agency "AFP", the spokesman of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanani, said in a press conference that "We clearly deny any connection with this attack"

It should be noted that the controversial British writer Salman Rushdie was attacked with a knife during an event in the US state of New York last week, after which he was taken to the hospital with injuries and is now out of danger.

After the attack on Salman Rushdie, the police arrested a 24-year-old suspect, Hadi Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, and presented him in court, where the accused pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder. 

This was the first reaction from Iran after the incident and the spokesman said in a press conference in Tehran that Salman Rushdie and his supporters are responsible for the attack and should be condemned.

He said that by 'insulting Islam', hurting the sentiments of one and a half billion Muslims, and insulting the sacred matters of Islam, Salman Rushdie had invited the wrath of the people himself.

Nasir Kanani further said that insulting religion in Salman Rushdie's writing does not justify freedom of expression.

It should be remembered that the controversial writer of Indian origin Salman Rushdie criticized Islam in his book in 1988, several paragraphs of which were a cause of heartache for Muslims and that is why a heavy reward was set for his head.

The fatwa to kill the 75-year-old novelist was issued in 1989 when Iran's then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the book's author and those who helped publish it.

Later in 1998, the Iranian government said it would no longer support the fatwa, and Rushdie has lived a relatively open life in recent years.

In late 2019, Twitter suspended the account of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after tweeting that the fatwa against Salman Rushdie was 'firm and irrevocable.