While the Obama Administration has staked a great deal on moderates in the Iranian regime, it is hard to see much progress in the Islamic Republic. That was made clear this week with the news that forty state-run Iranian media outlets have jointly offered a new $600,000 bounty for the death of British Indian author Salman Rushdie. Ayatollah Khomeini, the First Supreme Leader of Iran, issued the fatwa against Rushdie on charges of blasphemy for his novel The Satanic Verses on 15 February, 1989. Ayatollah Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 in the hateful fatwa remains in full force not just against Rushdie but anyone associated with the book. The fatwa captures the continuing problem that Islamic countries have with basic free speech and free exercise rights.
The Islamic Republic’s blood-soaked understanding of the Koran has already racked up victims linked to the book. Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator of The Satanic Verses, was stabbed to death and the Italian translator Ettore Capriolo survived being stabbed at his apartment in Milan. The novel’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times in the back and left for dead outside his home in Oslo. All of these hateful acts were viewed as triumphs of Islamic justice among Iranian hardliners.
The involvement of Iranian media in the most recent renewal of the death sentence is particularly distressful. To have “journalists” call for the murder of someone who merely publishes his views is an example of the grotesque logic found in the Islamic Republic.
Source: Independent
Bernard, Rushdie’s net worth is in the $15 million range. However, he’s been dealing with this fatwa for decades, so he has had to spend a lot of money on security and disguises, and he always has to watch his back, front, and sides at all times. http://www.therichest.com/celebnetworth/celeb/authors/salman-rushdie-net-worth/
You know, I’ve never actually read Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. But with this latest news about the Fatwa, I’m finally going to get it and read it. Thanks for the reminder, Iran; although I bet most of those calling for this Fatwa today haven’t read the book either.
It seems that Mr Rushdie has become a very wealthy man thanks to the book and especially the fatwa giving him so much publicity.
Lamar, while the issue was an Islamic fatwa, I didn’t specifically limit my comments to Islam although the Westboro Baptist Church isn’t an arm of the government of the US. Theocracies of all types are hazardous to humans!
Iranian Rockers Face Execution
The Mullahs embark on a mad killing spree.
February 22, 2016
Ari Lieberman
The news out of Iran these days travels exclusively in one direction: from bad to worse. The latest abomination from the Islamic Republic involves the seizure and arrest of members of an Iranian heavy metal band, Confess, on such charges as “blasphemy,” writing “satanic” lyrics and meeting with forbidden foreign radio stations.
Two of the band’s leaders, Nikan Siyanor Khosravi, 23 and Khosravi Arash Ilkhani, 21 were arrested by the intelligence wing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard on November 10, 2015 and were held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison in solitary confinement until their release on February 5. They are currently free on $30,000 bond, a fortune in Iran and face the prospect of execution if convicted of the most serious offense.
The seizure of the duo comes on the heels of a major crack down by government goons acting on orders of Iran’s religious authorities. At least 170 people were arrested by regime forces in November. A leading member of an Iranian human rights group described the arrests as “abductions” because the Iranian judiciary has stated that they know nothing of the arrests.
Arrests were made without warrants and those arrested were transferred to unknown locations without ever seeing a judge. That is the norm in the Islamic Republic where human rights are trounced upon with banal regularity and due process is virtually non-existent.
The depravity of Iran’s mullahs knows no bounds. On January 27, Iran executed Hashem Shaabani, a poet whose only weapon was his pen. The Iranians murdered him with the approval of President Hassan Rouhani for “waging war on God.” Rouhani is the same sordid character that some myopic Western lackeys often describe as a “moderate” and a “reformer.”
Before his execution, Shaabani was subjected to brutal torture by Iranian authorities and imprisoned for three years. Try as they might, the Iranians never broke his spirit and ultimately decided that murdering him would be the expedient thing to do.
Hundreds of Iranian nationals are executed every year on spurious charges ranging from “insulting the Prophet” to “spreading corruption on earth.” Last year, a staggering 700 Iranians were executed by authorities in just a 6-month period!
It is fair to say that with the exception of North Korea, Iran is arguably the most repressive nation on the planet. The non-partisan NGO, Freedom House, classified Iran as “not free” and gave the Islamist nation an abysmal rating of 17 out of a 100 on its freedom scale.
While Iran’s internal human rights problem should be a source of grave concern, of greater concern is the Islamic Republic’s immediate threat to world peace. It is no secret that Iran is the world’s premier state-sponsor of international terrorism. It has executed multiple terror attacks across five continents and has even attempted to kill a foreign ambassador on U.S. soil.
Iran also continues to destabilize the Mideast. While many in the West are focused on ISIS, the apocalyptic mullahs are busy expanding their regional hegemony. Through use of regional proxies, they control Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen and are attempting to exert control over Bahrain and Afghanistan.
Not content with destabilizing the region, promoting international terrorism and repressing its citizens through torture, arbitrary arrest and execution, the Iranians are advancing their ballistic missile program at a feverish pace in flagrant violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. Despite the fact that the missiles are capable of delivering nuclear warheads, the United States, led by its Appeaser in Chief, is turning a blind eye toward these Iranian transgressions for fear of derailing the very flawed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which has already bloated Iran’s coffers by $150 billion.
The Iranians are already utilizing that money to further advance their nefarious activity by funding various Islamist Shia mercenary groups like Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels and the KSS. The Iran-affiliated KSS recently broadcast a propaganda video that featured a captured U.S. M1 Abrams tank, likely commandeered from the Iraqi army, which has morphed into nothing more than a vassal of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran is also in the process of signing deals with both China and Russia for the purchase of advanced aircraft and tanks in violation U.N. Resolution 2231. That resolution specifically forbids Iran from purchasing, “battle tanks, armored combat vehicles, large-caliber artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, [and] warships…” without prior approval from the U.N.
Moreover, recent satellite imagery reveals that while Iran was negotiating with the West to lift sanctions, they were more than likely conducting secret nuclear experiments with military dimensions at their top secret Parchin military facility. New research and support centers were constructed, tunnels were dug and reinforced and wide swaths were paved over with concrete in an effort to hide illicit activity. The Obama administration inexplicably continues to remain silent in the face of Iran’s maleficence.
And of course there’s the matter of Iran’s seizure of two U.S. Navy assault boats in the Arabian Gulf, the circumstances of which still remain unclear. While John Kerry was busy thanking the Iranians for abducting our sailors, the Islamic Republic was busy degrading them, forcing them to kneel at gun point with hands interlocked behind their heads. They were also reportedly subjected to illegal interrogation and video of their humiliation was disseminated to Iran’s various propaganda outlets in violation of the Geneva Convention.
The State Department has yet to provide a full accounting of the matter and Senator John McCain has threatened to subpoena the 10 sailors if a full report of the sailors’ debrief is not provided by March 1. Among the matters that still need to be addressed are;
Who gave the sailors the order to surrender?
Were they ordered not to fight back?
Why weren’t readily available air and naval forces not immediately dispatched to the area?
How did the boats stray despite sophisticated on-board navigational devices and the relatively straight-forward path charted for the journey?
By now it should be clear to all that Iran poses a clear and present danger to world peace. The Islamic Republic’s repressive measures at home are matched only by their brutality overseas and malevolent regional and international machinations. Too bad Obama still hasn’t received the memo.
Bambam, thank you for the Ari’s article. Very enlightening!
I was about to go on a rant against Iran too until some things stuck me as odd. The metal band issue sounded just vague enough, and when I looked it up, the results are just as vague. One of the key sources, seemingly attached to Human rights watch, is not trackable to HRW.
Her twitter feed does not feature this story. And I seem to be unable to find much about his story that isn’t speculative and carried around by the Daily mail and right winging, anti-iran sites, such Frontpage mag, a hateful rag run by Lieberman himself. http://www.frontpagemag.com/author/ari-lieberman
can you provide a more reliable source?
As for the clear present danger Iran constitutes to the world, I was about to agree with you too until I realized that Israel was tied in 2014 with Iran as 4th on the list of countries most of the world views as a clear and present danger to humanity…behind the US.
http://www.ibtimes.com/gallup-poll-biggest-threat-world-peace-america-1525008
Is this a REAL ‘deah threat? Or just trying to keep themselves (Iran, Ayatollah whom/what-ever) in the news?
Made ‘ya look.
Abe
1, February 23, 2016 at 10:36 am
Paul,
Iran’s fatwas are in make it up as you go along mode. I’m sure the Ayatollah will adjust accordingly to fatwa list as U.S. presidential election nears.
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Good point, Abe.
One thing worth noting is that there are 2 different entities/powers running Iran, the moderates led by president Rouhani, who are open to the West and support individual freedoms, and the state apparatus, which is backward, fundamentalist and very oppressive. Unfortunately for the former, the latter holds the real reigns of power. Hence this fatwa. Let us note that to to call it media is to call the 3rd reich’s leaflets journalistic.
In that, Iran is not unlike Israel, where state policy is now driven by the orthodox and fundamentalists, and only moving rightward, but Israel has a liberal structure while Iran has a fundamentalist structure.
Paul,
Iran’s fatwas are in make it up as you go along mode. I’m sure the Ayatollah will adjust accordingly to fatwa list as U.S. presidential election nears.
It is noteworthy that the qualifier used to describe this republic is Islamic. At least they are not pretending what the law of their land is. What should the United States qualifier be; “Progressive” Republic? Because “Constitutional” Republic hardly seems to fit what the Republican and Democratic progressives have turned us into. Corporatist Republic?
Attempts to support hatred of and war with Iran because of the Rushdie fatwa (which is unreasonable to us but strikes a chord with some religious zealots as much as the Easter Bunny does – yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus) need to be recognized and shut down. Yellow journalism and warmongering, like fatwas, are demagoguery.
Are all fatwas time-limited or just Iran’s?
Just as the Obama administration has imprisoned and threatened those who disclose the crimes and incompetence of the US administration, other national leaders want to imprison anyone who discloses their Wizard of Oz rule i.e. that they are men protected only by a curtain of mythical religious fantasies.
Obama, along with many other nations, managed to get Iran to pull back on their nuclear program, to get rid of weapons grade fuel, to allow inspections, basically to give the West more time to deal with the situation if it was found to be continuing or restarted. It seems that this triumph is lost to those who prefer the methods of the three stooges: just go in and shock and awe them, let the situation fester until religious extremists move in, then complain and dispense death by the hundreds of thousands, only to leave at a loss. Yup, we would all be better off if we just didn’t listen to Obama. President Obama has done a remarkable job given the sewer prepared for him by the three stooges and the number of stooges that still inhabit Washington.
Re Justice Holmes: Would it be fair to make the same argument about Christianity, considering that Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church picketed the funerals of fallen soldiers on their anti-gay crusade?
I suggest that there are extremists in all religions, but it is not logical to brand the entire religion for the extremism of a few. I say this as someone who does not believe in any religion.
I agree with Justice Holmes. What comes to mind are the more than three generations of idiot Catholic Pedophile Priests.
With a $150 billion unfrozen assets, the fatwa list will get bigger.
This should be a lesson to faux liberals or progressives who think that they can embrace a religion that supports this kind of tyranny and remain free. One must make judgements about a cultures and religions. The idea of freedom for all is not a natural one. It grew out of the mind of humans who looked at the tyranny of relgion and said no more. They were the true progressives.
“While the Obama Administration has staked a great deal on moderates in the Iranian regime…”
Pres. Obama’s motivation was to build a legacy for an administration with precious few foreign policy accomplishments; he does not care about moderates – witness the lack of support for the Green Revolution.
The accusation of blasphemy only reveals the weakness of that which is blasphemed.
http://youtu.be/Q9GNdGmHvcQ
“Islamic Republic” are two words, taken together, are a contradiction in terms. “The Islamic Republic” seems to refer to a specific nation state or territory on this planet. Is the article speaking of Iran? One could say “Friggin Iran” and provide just about as much description.
Or “Friggin Iran, And To The Republic For Which It Stands”.
The ransom is an example of terrorism. The journalists are terrorists. Anyone who works for the journals is a terrorist.
It is time to bomb, bomb Iran.