Iran has denied any involvement in the attack on writer Salman Rushdie in the United States.
“There is no connection between Iran and the perpetrator,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Monday, as reported by the Iranian news agency Isna.
“Rushdie himself is responsible for the attack,” Mr Kanaani asserted, noting that the author’s work offended Iran and Muslims worldwide.
Mr Rushdie was stabbed onstage as he was about to deliver a lecture in New York on Friday.
The writer is recovering in hospital, and a 24-year-old suspect is in custody.
The Indian-born Briton’s novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s.
Iran is increasingly coming in for criticism in the international community over a death sentence issued against the respected author in the 1980s.
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious edict, or fatwa, sentencing Mr Rushdie to death more than 30 years ago because of ‘The Satanic Verses’, published in 1988.
Mr Khomeini accused Mr Rushdie of insulting Islam, the prophet Mohammed and the Quran in his novel.
(dpa/NAN)
