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Writer Salman Rushdie
Photo: Ralph Orlowski / REUTERS
After the knife attack on writer Salman Rushdie, Iran blamed the author and his supporters for the attack.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters Monday that freedom of speech does not justify Rushdie insulting religion in his works.
Because of Rushdie's 1988 work The Satanic Verses, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the British-Indian author to be killed.
He accused Rushdie of insulting Islam, the Prophet and the Koran in his novel.
After the death sentence, Rushdie fled and went into hiding for years.
Iranian newspapers cheered
On Friday, Rushdie was attacked and seriously injured at an event in Chautauqua, western New York.
Despite the earlier call for murder, Kanaani sees no connection between Iran and the attacker.
The spokesman said he only had information about him that was available from the media.
Canaani's statements were Iran's first official statement since the attack.
The ultra-conservative Iranian newspaper "Kayhan" had praised the attacker as a "brave man" who "ripped open the neck of the vicious" Rushdie with a knife".
Other Iranian media made similar statements.
There were also statements of support for the perpetrator in Pakistan.
col/Reuters/dpa/AFP
