HomeCarry Out 'Fatwa', Says Ayatollah
The Hindu
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
TEHERAN, Sept. 28. - A grand Ayatollah in Qom, stronghold
of Iran's Shi'ite Muslim clergy, said it was the duty of
all Muslims to carry out the death decree against the
British author, Mr. Salman Rushdie.
The hardline conservative daily newspaper Jomhuri Eslami
said today that grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazal Lankarani
had sent a message to world Muslims from the Shi'ite holy
city south of Teheran.
``This `fatwa' is by no means revokable or changeable and
it is the duty of all Muslims of the world to carry it out
,'' it quoted him as saying in the message.
``If the respected Government of the Islamic republic does
not intend to participate in carrying out the `fatwa', it
should nevertheless be among the front ranks supporting the
fatwa.''
Iran said on Thursday it would not send agents to carry out
the death order, imposed by Iran's late spiritual leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shortly before his death in
1989, for blasphemy against Islam in the Indian-born
author's book The Satanic Verses.
The Iranian statement, delivered by the Foreign Minister,
Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, during talks with the British Foreign
Secretary, Mr. Robin Cook, on the margins of the U.N.
General Assembly in New York, was part of a deal in which
the two countries agreed to upgrade their diplomatic
relations to the level of Ambassador.
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