U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran-based basis over Salman Rushdie bounty By Reuters

By Daphne Psaledakis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US on Friday imposed sanctions on an Iranian basis it accused of issuing a multi-million greenback bounty for the killing of novelist Salman Rushdie, who was attacked at an occasion in August.

The U.S. Treasury Division in an announcement stated it had designated the Iran-based 15 Khordad Basis a Specifically Designated World Terrorist, accusing it of putting a bounty on Rushdie after the 1989 name for his execution and growing it in 2012 to $3.3 million.

Rushdie, 75, misplaced sight in a single eye and using one hand following an assault on stage at a literary occasion in western New York in August, his agent stated.

The agent declined to say whether or not “The Satanic Verses” creator was nonetheless in hospital greater than two months after police stated a 24-year-old New Jersey man stabbed the author within the neck and torso simply earlier than Rushdie was to offer a lecture at Chautauqua Establishment, a retreat about 12 miles (19 km) from Lake Erie.

The novelist’s accidents additionally included wounds to his liver, Andrew Wylie, who represents literary giants resembling Saul Bellow and Roberto Bolano, stated on the time.

The person accused of attacking the novelist has pleaded not responsible to second-degree tried homicide and assault costs. He’s being held with out bail in a western New York jail.

“This act of violence, which has been praised by the Iranian regime, is appalling. All of us hope for Salman Rushdie’s speedy restoration following the assault on his life,” the Treasury Below Secretary for Terrorism and Monetary Intelligence Brian Nelson stated within the assertion.

Friday’s motion freezes any U.S. property belonging to the inspiration and customarily bars Individuals from coping with it. These dealing in sure transactions with the inspiration additionally danger sanctions.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme chief, 33 years in the past issued a fatwa, or spiritual edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie just a few months after his novel “The Satanic Verses” was revealed. Some Muslims noticed passages within the novel concerning the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.

Rushdie, who was born in India to a Kashmiri Muslim household, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent 9 years in hiding underneath British police safety.