VOA新闻杂志2022--伊朗否认参与袭击作家萨尔曼·拉什迪

搜索

复制

Iran Denies Involvement in Attack on Writer Salman Rushdie

An Iranian official Monday denied that Iran was involved in the attack on writer Salman Rushdie.

However, the official sought to justify¹ the attack in the country's first public comments on the incident.

The statement came from Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry². The comments came three days after Rushdie was stabbed several times during a talk in the U.S. state of New York. The attack left him seriously injured.

Rushdie's business agent said Sunday that the writer is "on the road to recovery," and was no longer on a breathing machine. Rushdie is 75 years old. He suffered damage to his liver. Nerves in an arm and in one of his eyes were cut. He is likely to lose the eye, his agent said. He remains³ in serious condition.

"Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual...sense of humor remains intact," Rushdie's son Zafar Rushdie said in a Sunday statement.

Rushdie has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his book The Satanic Verses. Muslim leaders considered the representation of the Prophet Muhammad in the book to be blasphemous⁴.

In 1989, Iran's supreme⁵ leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, demanding the writer's death. While Iran has not paid attention to Rushdie in recent years, the fatwa still stands.

Also, a partly official Iranian organization had offered over $3 million for the killing⁶ of the writer. It has not commented on the attack.

"Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don't consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation⁷, except for (Rushdie) himself and his supporters," Kanaani said.

He added, "no one can blame the Islamic Republic of Iran."

Iran has denied carrying out other attacks in foreign countries against political opponents in the years since the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. But investigators⁸ and Western governments have blamed such attacks on Iran.

Rushdie was attacked Friday as he was about to give a talk in New York state. His accused attacker was 24-year-old Hadi Matar. He told a court he was not guilty of the attempted murder and attack.

Police in New York have offered no reason for the attack. But District Attorney Jason Schmidt noted⁹ the promised payment for an attack on Rushdie. He argued against bail¹⁰ during a hearing for the suspect over the weekend.

Matar was born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from a small town in southern Lebanon near the Israel border. Flags of the Iranian-backed Shiite militant¹¹ group Hezbollah hang across the town. There are also pictures of Hezbollah and Iranian leaders there.

Village records show Matar holds Lebanese citizenship¹² and is a Shiite Muslim, an official there said. The official said Matar's father lives there but has been in hiding since the attack.

In his remarks Monday, Kanaani added that Iran does not "have any other information more than what the American media has reported." He also suggested that Rushdie brought the attack on himself.

"Salman Rushdie exposed himself to popular anger and fury through insulting the sacredness of Islam and crossing the red lines of over 1.5 billion Muslims," Kanaani said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not directly blame Iran for the attack. But he denounced Iran in a statement Monday praising the writer's support for freedom of expression and religion.

Fatwas can be cancelled. But Iran's current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who took over after Khomeini's death, has never done so.

Words in This Story

stab — v. to wound someone with a pointed¹³ weapon like a knife

blasphemous — adj. something greatly disrespectful of God or something held holy

reproach — n. an expression of disapproval¹⁴

bail — n. an amount of money given to a court to permit an accused person to leave prison before his trail

fury — n. extreme anger

sacred — adj. greatly honored by a religion

1 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

2 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

4 blasphemous   

adj.亵渎神明的，不敬神的

参考例句：

• The book was declared blasphemous and all copies ordered to be burnt.这本书被断定为亵渎神明之作，命令全数焚毀。
• The people in the room were shocked by his blasphemous language.满屋的人都对他那侮慢的语言感到愤慨。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

7 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

8 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

11 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

12 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 disapproval   

n.反对，不赞成

参考例句：

• The teacher made an outward show of disapproval.老师表面上表示不同意。
• They shouted their disapproval.他们喊叫表示反对。