Iran categorically rejects any connection to the attack on Rushdie

(Patria) - Iran on Monday "categorically" rejected any connection to the attack on Salman Rushdie, the British writer and author of "The Satanic Verses", who was stabbed multiple times on Friday at a conference in the US.

Salman Rushdie's family said on Sunday that they felt "great relief" as the British writer was taken off a ventilator, adding that he was still in "critical condition" but could already say a few words.

The British man of Indian origin, whose novel "The Satanic Verses" led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was due to give a lecture in New York State on Friday when he sustained several stab wounds to the neck and abdomen. His attacker has been arrested and pleaded not guilty.

"We categorically deny" any connection between the aggressor and Iran, and "no one has the right to accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Nasser Kanani, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran's first official reaction to the attack on Rushdie.

In 1989, a fatwa was issued in Iran, calling on all Muslims to kill Rushdie and all those associated with the publication of "The Satanic Verses".

The Iranian government lifted the fatwa in 1998, and Rushdie had lived relatively peacefully in recent years.