Rushdie killing `a Muslim duty'

Nicosia - Tehran radio rejected a European Union appeal to Iran to declare it would not kill Salman Rushdie and said that killing the Indian-born author of The Satanic Verses was the duty of individual Muslims. "The Iranian government has repeatedly stressed the reality that ... [Ayatollah Ruhollah] Khomeini's verdict on the death of Salman Rushdie is unchangeable, constant and an obligation to all world Muslims," the state-run Tehran radio said .

"The EU's insistence on asking the Iranian government to officially announce that the death verdict on Salman Rushdie will not be executed seems illogical, for the government of Iran has at no stage announced that it would execute this verdict," the radio said. Reuter