Minister says The Satanic Verses author’s scheduled address next week ‘crosses one of our red lines’
Iran is threatening to boycott the forthcoming Frankfurt book fair because organisers have invited Salman Rushdie to deliver the keynote address at the opening press conference.
In February 1989, Rushdie was the target of a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic and the country’s former supreme leader, over the publication of The Satanic Verses, which was described as blasphemous against Islam. His fatwa provoked an international outcry and caused the UK to sever diplomatic relations with Iran for years.
News that 26 years on the British-Indian novelist would play a high-profile role in the opening of the world’s largest book fair has thrown the country’s leaders into a quandary.
A decision to boycott Frankfurt would be a blow to Iranian publishers, 282 of which were represented at the book fair last year, displaying more than 1,200 titles.
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In February 1989, Rushdie was the target of a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic republic and the country’s former supreme leader, over the publication of The Satanic Verses, which was described as blasphemous against Islam. His fatwa provoked an international outcry and caused the UK to sever diplomatic relations with Iran for years.
News that 26 years on the British-Indian novelist would play a high-profile role in the opening of the world’s largest book fair has thrown the country’s leaders into a quandary.
A decision to boycott Frankfurt would be a blow to Iranian publishers, 282 of which were represented at the book fair last year, displaying more than 1,200 titles.
More
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