Iranian newspapers heap praise on ‘brave and dutiful’ attack

‘The hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy must be kissed’

‘One newspaper headline read: “Satan is on the way to hell”’

IRANIAN newspapers yesterday praised Sir Salman Rushdie’s “brave and dutiful” attacker for attempting to carry out the late Ayatollah Khomeini’s religious edict to kill the author of The Satanic Verses.

Sir Salman, 75, was stabbed in the neck and torso at a lecture in New York state on Friday. The Indian-born British novelist, who spent years in hiding, is in a serious condition in hospital.

The fatwa was issued by Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, when he condemned The Satanic Verses as blasphemous in 1989. The novel is banned in Iran.

An Iranian religious organisation offered a $2.7 million (£2.2 million) reward to anyone who carried out the fatwa, increasing the amount to $3.3million in 2012.

California-born Hadi Matar, 24, the suspect in the stabbing, was reported to have expressed sympathy to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on social media.

The hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said: “The hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy must be kissed.”

“A thousand bravos to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York,” it added.

Iran’s state broadcaster welcomed the attack. It said: “It is not yet known what has happened to this heretic, but what is known is that 33 years after they were first issued the Islamic edicts are still valid and applicable.”

Under the headline of “Attack on the Satan in 20 Seconds” the Mehr News Agency said: “It does not really matter what is the real identity of Hadi Matar and what his motives are.

“What matters is that those who by the order of the British intelligence services insult the beliefs of hundreds of millions of Muslims must not have a peaceful life, even while they are protected by these services.”

The Asr Iran news site carried an often-cited quote from Khamenei that said the “arrow” shot by Ayatollah Khomeini “will one day hit the target”.

The headline of the hardline Vatan Emrooz newspaper read “Knife in Salman Rushdie’s neck” while the Khorasan daily carried the headline “Satan on the way to hell”.

Others suggested without evidence that the stabbing may have been designed to derail the Iran nuclear deal.

Iranian officials are currently engaged in crucial negotiations with Western governments to revive the 2015 deal to dissuade Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“I do not believe in conspiracy theories but this incident concurring with finalising of the plan for reviving the nuclear deal is bewildering me,” Abbas Abdi, a local politician told Ensaf News.

Some Iranian opposition politicians spoke out against the stabbing.

Cleric Mohsen Kadivar, a dissident reformist who is currently a lecturer in

Duke University in US, told the moderate Ensaf News he strongly condemned “this bloody attack”.

“This act is against the true teachings of Islam and the Koran, and the culprit must be brought to justice and punished. The best way to criticise incorrect ideas must be through dialogue, not murdering people,” he said.

In Tehran, people’s views were mixed.

“I don’t know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam,” said Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. “This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities.”

Others, however, worried aloud that Iran could become even more cut off from the world.