DECRYPTION – Thirty-three years after Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa condemning the author of the satanic versesthe Iranian authorities “categorically” deny any link with the assassination attempt which targeted him.
Correspondent in Istanbul
“Satan lost an eye.” The front page, Sunday August 14, of the Iranian conservative daily Jam-yeah couldn’t be more explicit about Tehran’s relentless demonization of Salman Rushdie. Accompanied by a satirical portrait of the author of satanic verseshalf-blind and flanked by two horns, the article is part of a deluge of “congratulations”and other provocative reactions flooding the ultra-conservative press since the assassination attempt, Friday August 12 in Chautauqua, of the writer accused of“apostasy”.
Silent at first, the Iranian authorities ended up reacting on Monday, through the voice of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denying “categorically” any connection with the assailant, while affirming that, in this attack, “Only Salman Rushdie and his supporters deserve blame and even condemnation”. Proof that if the motives for the aggression remain to be elucidated, the persistent hostility of Tehran since the pronunciation of…
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