huridocs-tech Appeals On Web For Funds To Carry Out Rushdie Death Sentence

Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : olm@csun.edu
## date       : 05.01.00
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[This article has been excerpted.]

Iranian Group Appeals On Web For Funds To Carry Out Rushdie
Death Sentence

TEHRAN, Dec 28 (AFP): A private Iranian group is to launch
an appeal on the internet for money to implement a religious
death sentence on British writer Salman Rushdie, the Kayhan
newspaper reported...

The founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, in 1989
condemning Rushdie to death for his novel "The Satanic
Verses," which he judged blasphemous against Islam.

The fatwa poisoned relations between Tehran and London,
which gave Rushdie round-the-clock protection for many
years, but they improved markedly after Iran's decision last
year to stop encouraging the implementation of the decree.

The web appeal will enable supporters to transfer money over
the internet.

"The payment forms will be broadcast on the internet in the
next few days," said an official of the Kerbala Culture
Centre in the northeastern city of Mashhad, the private body
behind the scheme.

"Muslims in all countries will be able to fill out the forms
on the internet and send in money aimed at financing the
implementation of the fatwa," said the official, who was not
named.

"Similar forms will...be sent to political personalities in
the country to preserve the memory of the imam (Khomeini)
and his historic fatwa," he said.

In September British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said
Britain would continue to protect Rushdie despite Tehran's
pledge.

Cook told the BBC he believed the Iranian government was
"actively" trying to prevent the fatwa being carried out,
but said:  "We will make sure we do keep the issue of Salman
Rushdie very firmly on the agenda."

Britain recently down-graded Rushdie's protection, which at
its height saw him using armoured vehicles with
round-the-clock bodyguards. ...the author is still unable to
live a normal life and never announces his movements in
advance.

Security chiefs believe his life is at risk from
fundamentalist individuals or groups determined to carry out
the fatwa.

Iran's Muslim Shiite clergy were initially hostile to the
internet, fearing it would enable western cultural values to
infiltrate Iran, but later it realised the web's potential,
and its use is encouraged even in Koranic schools.

The Iranian government is actively promoting the creation of
websites devoted to its own propaganda or to Shiite
religious thought.




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