Death threat stilling hanging over Rushdie

Islamic groups in Iran have renewed calls for the killing of Salman Rushdie, saying it will be easier to kill him in the US where he now lives.

Mr Rushdie went into hiding in 1989 when Iran issued a fatwa against him for blasphemy in The Satanic Verses.

The Iranian government ended its endorsement of the fatwa in 1998 but cannot rescind it because that can only be done by the person who issued it, Ayatollah Khomeini who is dead.

The Revolutionary Guards, the country's main military force, this week issued a statement saying the death sentence against Rushdie still stands, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Ayatollah Hassan Saneii, head of the semi-official Khordad foundation, which has allocated a $2.8 million bounty on Rushdie's head, was quoted by Jomhuri Islami as saying that Khomeini's verdict is unchangeable.

Last year, Mr Saneii said the foundation's reward "will be paid with the accumulated interest" to those who enforce the decree.