NCRI – On Friday, Hamid Ansari deputy head of Khomeini’s Archives in an interview with the state television said, "Imam Khomeini’s fatwa on Salman Rushdie has historic significance on Islam and it was not just a fatwa. It was a verdict which still holds today."
Some twenty years ago, Khomeini in a fatwa (decree) ruled that Salman Rushdie, the British author of the book Satanic Verses must be killed.
Four days later, Khomeini’s office in a statement ruled out the rumors spread by some western media quoting him as saying that "if he [Rushdie] would repent" then the fatwa will be lifted.
"When Imam [referring to Khomeini] learned the contents of the book [Satanic Verses] began shaking in rage and said swore to God if I were younger, I would kill him myself," wrote the state-run magazine Pasdar Islam in March 1989.
Khomeini explicitly wrote in his fatwa that "Rushdie’s death is imminent and nothing can change it not even his repentance."
"Even if he [Rushdie] regrets and through his prayers turns into a saint, the decree will never change," added he in his letter stressing the seriousness of Rushdie’s crime.
To make sure that someone on the planet would do the job merely for a reward, Khomeini added, "Suppose a non-believer carried out the Godly mission, then every Muslim should offer him whatever he demanded in return for his service."
