Fatwa on Salman Rushdie

The motion

That the Parliament condemns the actions of Ayatollah Hassan Sanei, the Iranian cleric who has reissued the fatwa on Salman Rushdie by upping the reward for his killing by $500,000 to $3.3 million; understands that a fatwa was first issued on Salman Rushdie by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, which led to the break-off of diplomatic relations between the UK and Iran and forced Salman Rushdie to live in hiding under police protection for many years; expresses concern that a figure of such seniority and importance in Iran has openly encouraged the murder of a UK citizen and believes that this contradicts previous undertakings at the UN by the then president, Mohammad Khatami, and the then foreign minister, Kemal Kharrazi, both of whom declared that the matter was “completely finished”; further understands that Ayatollah Hassan Sanei blames the recent violent protests in the Muslim world in response to the controversial film, Innocence of Muslims, on the failure to kill Rushdie in the 1980s, which, in his opinion, would have prevented the creation of any literature, films or other art forms that could be construed as blasphemous, and believes that the right to freedom of speech and expression should be considered sacrosanct and that the inducement to murder an individual for observing these rights, no matter how provocative, is abhorrent.

No recorded vote on this motion. Most motions are never debated, and many that are debated are agreed without a division. Vote records are published from 2011.

SNP 18 Con 1 Green 1 Lab 1 Ind 1

Party shown is each supporter’s party when the motion was published.

No contribution in the Official Report cites S4M-04175 by reference.