Tehran, October 4, The Iran Project - Iran's Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs has objected to the presence of the apostate writer Salman Rushdie at the Frankfurt Book Fair's press conference.

Iran's Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs, Seyed Abbas Salehi, objected to Salman Rushdie’s speech at the Frankfurt Book Fair's press conference, calling it non-cultural.

So, today morning, we held a meeting attended by Iran’s director of Cultural Exhibitions Institute, Amir Massoud Shahramnia and the organizations’ representatives to discuss Iran’s presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair, Salehi said.

He went on to say that we would write a protest letter to the head of the Frankfurt Book Fair, Juergen Boos, in order to object to the presence of the apostate writer Salman Rushdie in the Fair and cancel his speech.

Referring to Rushdie’s speech about the slogan of the Book Fair - ‘freedom of speech’, he said the presence of this apostate writer is not only respecting the slogan, but also insulting the human values.

Salman Rushdie, the British Indian novelist and writer was sentenced to death by former Iranian supreme leader Imam Khomeini for insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, which was written in 1988 and sparked global protests by Muslims around the world.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the biggest book and media trade fair in the world, with around 7,500 exhibitors from over 110 countries and about 300,000 visitors each year.