PARIS : Relief for Rushdie
The Iranian government Thursday is expected to officially accept the European Union’s plea not to carry out the fatwa , or religious death sentence, against British author Salman Rushdie within any EU country.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Vaezi is expected to hand over an official promise to a delegation of Europeans led by French Foreign Ministry official Bertrand Dufour in Paris.
Since he was first condemned in 1989 by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for the allegedly blasphemous nature of his book “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie has been a target of Islamic extremists’ threats. Even this week’s expected official easing of the threat will not give the British author safe passage in Europe. On Sunday, underground Islamic radicals released a statement renewing their commitment to carry out the sentence.
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