As he increased the bounty on Rushdie’s head, Hassan Sanei said: “Surely if the sentence of the Imam had been carried out, the later insults in the form of caricatures, articles and the making of movies would not have occurred” — in other words, if Muslims had murdered Salman Rushdie, other Infidels would be too afraid to say anything negative about Islam, and the global jihad would be able to advance unimpeded, without anyone daring to question its root causes in Islamic teaching.
The thing is, Sanei need not have bothered to do anything. The Western media is already eagerly becoming Sharia-compliant. Few newspapers dared to reprint the notorious Muhammad cartoons, which were published in the first place as a free speech test case. Western media took the test, and failed. Mainstream media reporters such as Christiane Amanpour, Bob Smietana, Niraj Warikoo, Kari Huus, Lisa Wangsness, Anne Barnard and many, many others routinely vilify the defenders of the freedom of speech as “bigots” and “Islamophobes,” while repeatedly giving jihadists and Islamic supremacists laudatory and fawning coverage. The Iranian mullahs have won without having to dirty their hands with Salman Rushdie’s blood.
“Iranian mullah revives death fatwa against Salman Rushdie over Satanic Verses 25 years after it was issued,” by Mia De Graaf for the Daily Mail, February 16:
The Iranian clergy has revived Salman Rushdie’s death fatwa 25 years after it was issued over his ‘blasphemous’ Satanic Verses.
On February 14, 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called on all Muslims to murder the award-winning author and anyone involved in the publication of his work.
This Friday, senior cleric Ahmad Khatami reminded worshippers at the Tehran Friday prayer that the ‘historical fatwa’ is ‘as fresh as ever’.
He added that even if Rushdie repents, it will not affect the sentence.
The religious ruling forced the award-winning writer into hiding, and Britain’s ties with the Islamic republic were severely damaged just a few years after collaborating on a UN resolution between Iraq and Iran.
Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator, was stabbed to death in the face at work, a Norwegian publisher shot and an Italian publisher knifed.
Thousands took to the streets to burn copies of the book and thirty-seven people were massacred in Sivas, Turkey, in a 1993 attack intended to target Aziz Nesin, the book’s Turkish translator.
More than two decades later, Rushdie has emerged from hiding and is regularly seen at public events.
People of all ages and nationalities took to the streets with placards calling for his assassination
However, this week cleric Khatami implored followers not to abandon their attacks.
He said: ‘The important thing is that this fatwa is as fresh as ever for Muslims. Faithful Muslims are looking for an opportunity to implement Imam’s fatwa.
‘Our enemies thought that with the acceptance of the resolution, Imam had retreated from his principles.
‘Then this incident happened. It showed the world that the revered Imam had not retreated one bit.’
The Satanic Verses, Rushdie’s fourth novel, propelled the Indian-born writer into a storm of controversy that forced him into hiding for the best part of a decade.
The title refers to the so-called ‘satanic verses’, a group of alleged Qur’anic verses that allow intercessory prayers to be made to three Pagan Meccan goddesses.
The book’s publication in 1988 sparked a wave of protest and condemnation from Muslims who accused it of blasphemy and mocking their faith. The following year, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwā, or religious ruling, calling for Rushdie’s death.
The British government gave the writer round-the-clock police protection.
Rushdie has received notices every year since the publication reminding him of the religious ruling.
In 2012, Hassan Sanei, the head of the state-funded 15 Khordad, raised the bounty on Rushdie’s head by $500,000 to $3.3million ($2million).
He said Islamaphobic literature and films would not have been made if it weren’t for the Satanic Verses.
‘Surely if the sentence of the Imam had been carried out, the later insults in the form of caricatures, articles and the making of movies would not have occurred,’ he said in a statement.
‘I am adding another $500,000 to the reward for killing Salman Rushdie and anyone who carries out this sentence will receive the whole amount immediately.’
Also in 2012, Rushdie became the subject of a computer game in Iran called The Stressful Life Of Salman Rushdie And Implementation Of His Verdict.
The programme is intended to teach the younger generation about the ‘highly important’ fatwa.