Secretary General of the Headquarters for Honoring the Martyrs of Islam World Movement Forouz Raja'ee-Far told FNA here on Sunday that his headquarters had announced in 2004 that it would pay $100,000 to anyone who could put into effect Imam Khomeini's verdict and that after 3 years it has now raised the prize to $150,000.
Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie crushed Muslims' sentiments and beliefs and sparked protests in Muslim countries around the world with his book The Satanic Verses. In 1989 the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini issued a verdict of death sentence against him for blasphemy.
The move by the Iranian NGO follows a recent controversial move by the British Queen who awarded Rushdie with a knighthood.
Raja'ee-Far reminded that many world Muslims have voiced preparedness to exercise Imam Khomeini's verdict since it was issued in 1989.
"And that's why Salman Rushdie has been living with continued nightmares during all these 18 years," he continued.
The NGO secretary general also added, "According to Imam Khomeini's verdict, it is an obligation for all Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie even if he repents from the bottom of his heart and becomes the pious man of the time."
"Also according to Imam's verdict, if a non-Muslim person can find and execute Rushdie sooner than Muslims, it will be an obligation for Muslims to provide such a person with whatever he wants as his payment or prize," he reminded.
Earlier on Sunday, Iranian foreign ministry lambasted Britain for having awarded Salman Rushdie with a knighthood, saying the measure reveals the anti-Islam stances of the senior British officials.
"This move will certainly place the British officials and statesmen against the Islamic societies," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly press conference here in Tehran today.
"This action displays that insults to Islamic sanctities is not a haphazard move and that it is a pre-planned movement guided and supported by certain western countries," he continued.
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