"Principally, I consider this move (Rushdie's presence in a press conference in the exhibition) which has been planned by Frankfurt book exhibition as a non-cultural event that is among the Islamic Republic of Iran and the culture ministry's redlines," Deputy Culture Minister Seyed Abbas Salehi said on Sunday.
He underlined that the late founder of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa on killing Rushdie after he wrote the sacrilegious book is still alive and valid.
Salehi said Iran is now mulling if it should boycott the Frankfurt book event after it was informed of Rushdie's presence there.
Salman Rushdie's novel 'The Satanic Verses' was first published in the United Kingdom in 1988. Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. Since then Rushdie is living covertly for the fear of his life.
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