US sanctions Iranian foundation that offered Salman Rushdie bounty

WASHINGTON

The US sanctioned on Friday the Iran-based foundation that placed a multi-million dollar bounty for the killing of acclaimed author Salman Rushdie.

The 15 Khordad Foundation has been added to the US blacklist after a lone assailant attacked Rushdie in August while he was preparing to deliver an address at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York.

“The United States will not waver in its determination to stand up to threats posed by Iranian authorities against the universal rights of freedom of expression, freedom of religion or belief, and freedom of the press,” said Brian Nelson, the Treasury Department's top official for financial intelligence said in a statement.

“This act of violence, which has been praised by the Iranian regime, is appalling. We all hope for Salman Rushdie’s speedy recovery following the attack on his life," he added.

Rushdie is the author of several novels that won widespread acclaim, including Midnight's Children, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

But his book, "The Satanic Verses," which was published in 1988, stirred protests across the Muslim world with Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's former supreme leader, issuing a death fatwa against the author.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor, said the fatwa was still valid in 2019. Hadi Matar, 24, who is charged of attempted murder, pleaded not guilty at a court hearing in August.

The 15 Khordad Foundation is subordinate to Iran's supreme leader, and was "inspired by Ayatollah Khomeini’s order calling for Rushdie’s execution," according to the Treasury. The bounty on Rushdie's head sits at roughly $3.3 million, it said.

Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand following a stabbing attack in New York in August, his agent said this month.

"(His wounds) were profound, but he's (also) lost the sight of one eye," Andrew Wylie, a New York-based literary agent, told Spanish newspaper El Pais in an interview published on Saturday. "He had three serious wounds in his neck."

Wylie also said that Rushdie's one hand was incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut.

"He has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack," Wylie added.

Asked if Rushdie was still in hospital, he refused to give information about his whereabouts.

"He's going to live … That's the more important thing," he said.