Several hardline tabloids in Iran on Saturday openly praised the 24-year-old attacker, despite the fact that Iran has not yet released an official comment regarding the attack on “The Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie.
Iran had issued murder threats in relation to Rushdie’s book since 1989.
“A thousand bravos… to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York,” stated the hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is chosen by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“The hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy shall be kissed,” the passage continued.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa in 1989 for Muslims worldwide to kill the author who was born in India, is frequently quoted as saying that the “arrow” he shoots “will one day reach the target” on the Asr Iran news website.
Knife in Salman Rushdie’s neck, according to the extreme Vatan Emrooz tabloid.
The headline of the Khorasan daily read, “Satan on the way to hell.”
Rushdie, who is reportedly on a ventilator support, was critically wounded while delivering a speech on stage.
