Cleric wants UK imports cut

A SENIOR Iranian cleric urged the Majlis (parliament) to consider cutting down British imports in retaliation for London's 'mischief' over the Salman Rushdie affair, writes Safa Haeri.

During Friday prayers in Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said that the controversy over Mr Rushdie, whose death was ordered by the late Ayatollah Khomeini four years ago, was a 'British affair' aimed at opening the way to insulting Islam and pressurising Iran, Tehran Radio said.

'The Imam's fatwa (decree against the author) is a divine order and will be carried out, sooner or later, and there is nothing that this sinking empire can do,' Ayatollah Jannati said.