DUBAI: An Iranian foundation has praised the man who attacked novelist Salman Rushdie last year, leaving him severely injured, and said it will reward him with 1,000 square meters of agricultural land, state TV reported on Tuesday through its Telegram channel.
Rushdie, 75, lost an eye and the use of one hand following the assault by a 24-year-old Shiite Muslim American from New Jersey on the stage of a literary event held near Lake Erie in western New York in August.
“We sincerely thank the brave action of the young American who made Muslims happy by blinding one of Rushdie’s eyes and disabling one of his hands,” said Mohammad Esmail Zarei, secretary of the Foundation to Implement Imam Khomeini’s Fatwas.
“Rushdie is now no more than living dead and to honor this brave action, about 1,000 square meters of agricultural land will be donated to the person or any of his legal representatives,” Zarei added.
The attack came 33 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme leader, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie a few months after “The Satanic Verses” was published.
Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri family, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent nine years in hiding under British police protection.
While Iran’s pro-reform government of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa in the late 1990s, the multimillion-dollar bounty hanging over Rushdie’s head kept growing and the fatwa was never lifted.
Khomeini’s successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa against Rushdie was “irrevocable.”
The man accused of attacking the novelist has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges.
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Iranian foundation offers land to Salman Rushdie’s attacker — state media
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Iranian foundation offers land to Salman Rushdie’s attacker — state media
- Rushdie, 75, lost an eye and the use of one hand following the assault
Turkiye says Greece-Chevron activity off Crete unlawful
ANKARA: Turkiye said on Thursday it opposed Greece’s “unilateral activities” in hydrocarbon fields south of Crete with a consortium led by US oil major Chevron as a violation of international law and good neighborly relations.
The Chevron-led consortium signed exclusive lease agreements on Monday to look for natural gas off southern Greece, expanding the United States’ presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We oppose this unlawful activity, which is being attempted in violation of the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on Maritime Jurisdiction between Libya and our country,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said at its weekly press briefing.
It said the activity, while not directly impacting Turkiye’s continental shelf in the region, also violated Libya’s maritime jurisdiction declared to the United Nations on May 27, 2025.
“We continue to provide the necessary support to the Libyan authorities to take action against these unilateral and unlawful activities by Greece.
The 2019 agreement signed by Turkiye and Libya set out maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea and was rejected by Greece as it ignored the presence of the Greek island of Crete between the coasts of Turkiye and Libya.
The Chevron deal doubles the amount of Greek maritime acreage available for exploration and is the second in months involving a US energy major as the European Union seeks to phase out supplies from Russia and the US seeks to replace them.
Neighbours and NATO members Turkiye and Greece have been at odds over a range of issues for decades, primarily maritime boundaries and rights in the Aegean, an area widely believed to hold energy resources and with key implications for airspace and military activity.
A 2023 declaration on friendly relations prompted a thaw in rhetoric between the two countries, though issues have remained unresolved despite leaders voicing a desire to address them.
The Chevron-led consortium signed exclusive lease agreements on Monday to look for natural gas off southern Greece, expanding the United States’ presence in the eastern Mediterranean.
“We oppose this unlawful activity, which is being attempted in violation of the 2019 Memorandum of Understanding on Maritime Jurisdiction between Libya and our country,” the Turkish Defense Ministry said at its weekly press briefing.
It said the activity, while not directly impacting Turkiye’s continental shelf in the region, also violated Libya’s maritime jurisdiction declared to the United Nations on May 27, 2025.
“We continue to provide the necessary support to the Libyan authorities to take action against these unilateral and unlawful activities by Greece.
The 2019 agreement signed by Turkiye and Libya set out maritime boundaries in the Mediterranean Sea and was rejected by Greece as it ignored the presence of the Greek island of Crete between the coasts of Turkiye and Libya.
The Chevron deal doubles the amount of Greek maritime acreage available for exploration and is the second in months involving a US energy major as the European Union seeks to phase out supplies from Russia and the US seeks to replace them.
Neighbours and NATO members Turkiye and Greece have been at odds over a range of issues for decades, primarily maritime boundaries and rights in the Aegean, an area widely believed to hold energy resources and with key implications for airspace and military activity.
A 2023 declaration on friendly relations prompted a thaw in rhetoric between the two countries, though issues have remained unresolved despite leaders voicing a desire to address them.
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