UNITED NATIONS - Iran's government distanced itself Thursday from a $2.5 million reward for the death of Salman Rushdie, a move interpreted by the author as meaning an end to 10 years of living in the shadows.

The Iranian "government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it," Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said after a meeting with his British counterpart, Robin Cook.

Kharrazi's comments stopped short of lifting Iran's death sentence on Rushdie.

The gesture contains little that is new, however. The Iranian government has never officially backed the reward, and in recent years has even given assurances that it would not actively seek Rushdie's death.

But powerful hard-liners inside the Islamic government have always supported the death sentence and are likely to continue to do so.

Only seven months ago, the head of the foundation that is offering the reward said he was considering upping the bounty, especially if Rushdie were killed in the United States.

Iran's chief prosecutor, Morteza Moqtadaie, marked the last anniversary of the fatwa in February by saying: "The shedding of this man's blood is obligatory."

"The destruction of this man's worthless life could breathe new life into Islam," state-run Tehran radio said at the time.

Decree Against Salman Rushdie, Irrevocable, Official Iranian News Agency, IRNA, September 24

TEHRAN - A morning daily Thursday editorialized on remarks made by president Mohammad Khatami during his visit to the U.S. to attend the 53rd U.N. General Assembly session, saying one of the issues on which the president commented was the decree against the apostate Salman Rushdie.

As to reports carried by mass media implying that Iran has changed its stand on Rushdie, the English-language 'Tehran Times' wrote that in principle fatwa can neither be changed or withdrawn by the government of president Khatami nor by any religious authority in the world. Almost one decade has lapsed and the Iranian government's policy in respect of the fatwa is the same and there is no change.

The fact is that Rushdie insulted religious values of Islam and hurt the feelings of over one billion Muslims, it said adding, ''no such person should be left without punishment.''

 
Thousands Protest Iran Regime/Display Coincides With Leader's Visit to UN, Newsday, Sep. 22

In a show of unity and strength yesterday, thousands of protesters outside the United Nations thrust their fists in the air and shouted for the current Iranian regime to step down and make way for a democratic government.

Iranians from as nearby as Long Island and as far away as Seattle and Toronto gathered to speak out against President Mohammad Khatami, arguing that since he was elected last year, the state of the country has gotten worse.

The economic situation has deteriorated, they said, as public hangings, executions of political prisoners and terrorist attacks have continued under Khatami. With such blemishes on his record, the demonstrators said, Khatami cannot be considered a "moderate" politician, despite some foreign governments' characterization of him as such….

"There is a rogue government that is holding the people of Iran captive," said Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), keynote speaker at the demonstration, drawing cheers and shouts from the crowd. Torricelli, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.Y.) turned out in support of the demonstrators….

They [protesters] carried the green, white and red Iranian flag, and in step with the beat of drums, they yelled until their voices were hoarse. They shouted: "Rajavi, yes. Khatami, no. He's a terrorist. He must go."

 
Iranian Judge Threatens Journalists, The Washington Post, September 22

TEHRAN - An Iranian judge was quoted as saying that jailed journalists from a newly banned liberal newspaper could face the death penalty as mohareb, or "those who fight God."

The comment added to a growing factional dispute over a crackdown by the conservative-dominated judiciary on media…

 
Iranian MPs Lash Out At Media, Reuter, September 23

The official Iranian news agency IRNA said 180 of the 270 deputies, in a letter read out in parliament, backed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's call for action against newspapers he accused of "abusing freedom of speech."

It also proposed that the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, with the Information Ministry, should "identify all those in the press who have targeted the faith of the people to enable the judiciary to deal with them within the Islamic penal code."

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