Iran is threatening to boycott the forthcoming Frankfurt book fair because organisers have invited Salman Rushdie to deliver the keynote address at the opening press conference.
In February 1989, Rushdie was the target of a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic and the country’s former supreme leader, over the publication of The Satanic Verses , which was described as blasphemous against Islam. His fatwa provoked an international outcry and caused the U.K. to sever diplomatic relations with Iran for years. News that the British-Indian novelist would play a high-profile role in the opening of the world’s largest book fair has thrown the country’s leaders into a quandary.
A decision to boycott Frankfurt would be a blow to Iranian publishers, 282 of which were represented at the book fair last year, displaying more than 1,200 titles.
Seyed Abbas Salehi, Deputy Minister for Culture and Islamic Guidance, lodged a strong protest against Mr. Rushie’s speech, scheduled for Tuesday October 13, and said Tehran was mulling whether to boycott the fair. “This has been organised by the Frankfurt book fair and crosses one of our political system’s red lines. We consider this move as anti-cultural,” he said, according to local news agencies. “Imam Khomeini’s fatwa on this issue is reflective of our religion and it will never fade away. We urge organisers to cancel his address.”
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015
