§ Mr. Stephen TwiggTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list those organisations which have maintained their fatwa on Salman Rushdie. [68748]
§ Mr. FatchettThe fatwa against Salman Rushdie was decreed by the late Ayatollah Khomenei, not by any organisation or group of organisations. Ayatollah Khomenei died in 1989. A number of groups, Iranian and non-Iranian, have made statements about the fatwa over the years; many of them are of obscure status. The Iranian government have made clear their position, that they have no intention of taking any action against Salman Rushdie, nor will they encourage or assist anybody else to do so. We welcome these assurances.