PARIS, June 22 -- Iran Thursday refused to withdraw its death sentence against the British writer Salman Rushdie despite a new demand from the European Union, diplomatic sources said. They said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmoud Vaezi failed to deliver any official reply to the European Union request during a meeting with EU officials at the French Foreign Ministry.
'On the question of Rushdie, which was one of the subjects discussed Thursday morning, there was no written response,' one source said. He said Vaezi instead confirmed the 'validity' of the fatwa, or death sentence, imposed by Iranian religious against Rushdie in 1989 for allegedly committing blasphemy against Islam in his book 'The Satanic Verses.' The EU in April formally requested Tehran pledge to take no action against Rushdie. The French Foreign Ministry Thursday confirmed that the Iranian delegation had responded to the request, but gave no further details. Earlier this month, an Iranian government spokesman had indicated that Vaezi would hand over a letter during the meeting that would 'meet the demands' of the EU over Rushdie. But earlier Thursday, Iran's official Islamic Reupblic News Agency quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Morteza Sarmadi as saying the Iranian delegation planned to reject the EU request. The IRNA report indicated that the refusal may be related to condemnation of Iran by government leaders at Group of Seven summit in Canada last week.
