Jumping on the Fatwa Bandwagon

The BBC reports that yet another, more senior, Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa calling for the murder of Azeri journalist Rafiq Tagi:

It was issued by the conservative Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Fazel Lankarani.

The writings of Rafiq Tagi sparked recent demonstrations outside the Azerbaijani embassy in the Iranian capital, Teheran.

The Iranian media is reporting that Grand Ayatollah Lankarani's followers inside the republic of Azerbaijan wrote to him asking for advice about what they called "the apostate writer".

They accuse the Azeri writer of portraying Christianity as superior to Islam and Europe as superior to the Middle East.

They allege that he has ridiculed all the sanctities of Islam and done it knowingly, fully aware of the consequences of his action.

In response, Grand Ayatollah Lankarani is said to have issued a fatwa calling for the death of the writer and also the person responsible for publishing his articles.

(Emphasis added-DD)


Koenraad Elst has documented the murderous efforts of radical Islamists to silence freethinkers and dissidents. I hope Mr. Tagi is not added to this list.