Iran Denies Link With Rushdie’s Attacker

Iran on Monday “categorically” denied any link with the attacker who stabbed author Salman Rushdie in the United States.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a press conference ruled out any connection between the stabbing of the Indian-origin novelist and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported today.
Rushdie, who faced death threats over his book ‘The Satanic Verses’, was stabbed on stage in western New York state last week on Friday.

A number of world leaders including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have condemned the incident.

Furthermore, in the press conference, Kanaani said as quoted by IRNA that no one has the right to accuse Iran.

Rushdie, 75, hogged the limelight with his novel ‘Midnight’s Children’ in 1981. The India-born author won the Booker Prize for the novel which was also adapted for the stage.

But his 1988 book ‘The Satanic Verses’ led to a fatwa, a religious decree, by the then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The threat forced him into hiding for several years.

On Saturday, Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and will be able to talk, after he was stabbed in western New York State during a lecture.

Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that Rushdie was taken off a ventilator and could talk, without giving further details, according to The Washington Post.

Hadi Matar, who is suspected of stabbing Rushdie, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in the second degree and other charges in a New York court. (ANI)