A spokeswoman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected any connections between the Iranian government and Hadi Matar, the primary suspect in the attempted assassination, in response to Salman Rushdie’s stabbing on Friday (12 August 2022).
Jeremy Schanzer
Jeremy Schanzer
@JSchanzer
I quickly glanced at the timelines of Amnesty, HRW, and the ACLU to see how they had responded to the attack on Salman Rushdie out of interest. It turned out they didn’t say anything at all. Not a single tweet
was posted about the intellectual attack, which was motivated by a rogue state. Where did these NGOs go?
Nasser Kanaani, a representative of the Iranian government, asserted on August 15, 2022, that Iran had no involvement in what was then referred to as a “assassination attempt.”
Suspicions were raised since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s now-deceased Supreme Leader, had issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989 in response to the release of his contentious book The Satanic Verses, which had sparked controversy.
Hadi Matar’s social media background and support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a division of the Iranian Armed Forces, led to suspicions of Iranian government participation as well.
Clinton, Bill
Clinton, Bill
@BillClinton
Salman Rushdie has led a brave life, refusing to allow intimidation to silence him, his writing, or the values he upholds. He is on my mind, and I’m hoping for his recovery.
Salman Rushdie is no longer on a ventilator and is reportedly making a slow recovery from the stabbing, according to ABC.
The Iranian government responds to Salman Rushdie’s attack
While representatives of the Iranian government have denied any involvement in the attack’s planning, many people have applauded the attempt to kill Salman Rushdie.
Mountain Neuer
Mountain Neuer
@HillelNeuer
On Salman Rushdie, Amnesty International has been mute.
Nasser Kanaani stated in a public statement that he thought Rushdie was attacked fairly. He stated:
We believe that no one, including Salman Rushdie and his followers, is deserving of criticism, blame, or even condemnation in relation to the attack against him in America.
Kanaani went on:
“No one can hold the Islamic Republic of Iran accountable in this regard. We think that the insults he received and the support he received were directed at all religious believers. By disrespecting Islam’s sacredness and going against the beliefs of more than 1.5 billion Muslims as well as the beliefs of adherents of all divine religions, Salman Rushdie exposed himself to the wrath of the general public.
Kanaani continued by stating that although Iran was not at fault, Rushdie’s own actions were what led to the attack.
Cable Spy
Cable Spy
@Spy5Wire
Salman Rushdie’s attempted murder by an Islamic lunatic has not received much attention from the Labour front bench. Why, I wonder?
According to the BBC, the Iranian media outlet Jaam-e Jam likewise praised Hadi Matar’s purported deeds. The Iranian media described this as retaliation after Rushdie’s agent warned that it was possible for Rushdie to sustain permanent eye damage.
Robert Moran
Robert Moran
@bobscartoons
Even though it is disturbing and heartbreaking, the Salman Rushdie narrative appears to be only the most recent justification for journalists to reach a hitherto unrecognised degree of rotten hypocrisy after trashing free expression and human rights for the past two years.
The announcement said:
“The devil’s eye has been blinded.”
Iran’s response to the strike was denounced by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the following way:
Official-affiliated media recently gloated about the assault on Rushdie’s life, and Iranian state institutions have long incited violence against him.
He went on to call Iran’s answer “despicable.”
President-elect Kamala Harris
President-elect Kamala Harris
@VP
The assault on author Salman Rushdie this week horrified Doug and me. The foundation of any free and open society should be the ability for people to freely exchange ideas. Hatred and violence have no place.
The release of The Satanic Verses has been related to acts of violence before. The novel’s Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was fatally murdered in his Tsukuba, Japan, office in 1991.