Iran's hardliners renew call for Rushdie to die

Iranian hardliners renewed a death sentence on Salman Rushdie yesterday, 14 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the former Iranian leader, issued his fatwa against the writer.

The elite Revolutionary Guards, which answers directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said in a statement timed to coincide with the anniversary: "The historical decree on Salman Rushdie is irrevocable and nothing can change it."

The leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution condemned Rushdie to death in 1989 for alleged blasphemy against Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses. Iran's President, Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, said in 2001 that the death sentence should be seen as closed after Iran and Britain agreed to normalise relations in 1998.

But Iranian hardliners, led by the Revolutionary Guards, have refused to follow the government's moderate line and have repeatedly issued calls for Rushdie to be killed.

The Foreign Office said: "This is not the first time that statements have been made that are contrary to oft- repeated official Iranian policy.

"Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi affirmed to Britain's then foreign secretary Robin Cook on 24 December 1998 that the 'government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has no intention, nor is it going to take any action whatsoever, to threaten the life of the author of The Satanic Verses or anyone associated with his work'," a spokesman said.

Rushdie was forced into hiding when Khomeini issued the fatwa in 1989 following the publication of The Satanic Verses and was forced to live in 30 different secret locations in Britain over a nine-year period. The Japanese translator of the book was assassinated, and both the Italian translator and the Norwegian publisher were seriously wounded.

In recent years, Rushdie has been seen in public more often and now spends most of his time in New York.