Intellectual and novelist Salman Rushdie (above)who is also a professed atheist, was sentenced to death by the late Ayatollah Khomeini. Muslims worldwide continue to support the "fatwa" against Rushdie; but in the west, few religious leaders bothered to actively affirm the writer's freedom to express his views.

An execution decree against the author of The Satanic Verses is reaffirmed by Islamic militants. Can Iran's new President control extremists who work to subordinate freedom of expression to religious fanaticism?

ran's chief prosecutor has reaffirmed the "fatwa" or death order on novelist Salman Rushdie, declaring that the author of the 1989 book "The Satanic Verses" must die for the sin of blaspheming Islam. "The shedding of this man's blood is obligatory," declared Morteza Moqtadaie, who is also a senior cleric in Iran's religious establishment.

    The remarks were made on the eve of the anniversary of the death sentence which was pronounced by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini; he charged that Rushdie, a renowned writer and intellectual, had insulted the prophet Mohammed in the pages of his novel. That ignited world wide Muslim demonstrations and riots which sent Rushdie into hiding. Despite the "fatwa," Rushdie manages to still make unannounced public appearances, and continues to write.

    While Islamists support the decree issued by Khomeini, human rights groups and others have come to Rushdie's defense. The European Union supports the embattled author, and has called on Iran to enter into a dialogue aimed at withdrawing the "fatwa." Religious experts, however, point out that only the cleric who issues the death sentence can withdraw it. Khomeini, who orchestrated the 1979 religious coup that overthrew the Shah of Iran, died in June, 1989, four months after issuing the decree.

    Speaking at Tehran University, a stronghold for religious hard liners in Iran, Moqtadaie declared last week, "Any Muslim who hears an insult to the prophet must kill the person who commits the insult. It is better that those closest to that person try to kill him first." That bloodthirsty proclamation was met with cries from the worshippers, "Allah Akbar," ("God is great" in Arabic). "What Iman Khomeini did is exactly what the prophet did, and this ("fatwa") must be preserved," he added.

   The reaffirmation of Rushdie's execution order underscores splits within the clerical government in Tehran, and poses a challenge to the administration of the country's new President, Mohammad Khatami. His election last year by a resounding margin was seen as evidence that many Iranians -- women, youth and intellectuals -- were calling for a relaxing of religious militancy, social reform and civil liberties, and greater contact with the west. After taking office in August, 1997, Khatami set to work attempting to moderate the Iranian foreign policy; in so doing, though, he must still confront religious hard liners like Moqtadaie and other clerical extremists like Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makaram-Shirazi. Tehran University remains a locus of fundamentalist activity, as do groups such as the Ansar-e Hezbollah ("Supporters of the Party of God") which have disrupted movie theaters for showing western or "immoral" films, and even attacked mixed-sex bicycling groups.

    The Iranian government has also been tied to a far-flung terrorist network which Khatami must rein in if he is to establish better ties with western nations. Much of the violence has been directed at critics of the Tehran regime living abroad, and since the 1979 coup, more than 60 Iranian dissidents living in foreign countries have been murdered. The head of a Paris-based opposition group told TIME magazine, "No one is immune to this threat." Heading up the terrorist operation is Iran's intelligence service, VEVAK, presided over by security minister Ali Fallahian.

   Militant clerics control other governmental and quasi-official organs, including the Council of Guardians which "approves" any candidates running for public office. Headed by another senior cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, this group also works with VEVAK and the Revolutionary Guards to export Islamic fundamentalism. Jannati recently criticized the government of Saudi Arabia for permitting foreigners (including U.S. and other foreign troops) to "despoil the most sacred places of Islam."

    Whether Mr. Khatami can curb the power of hard liner clerics remains to be seen. Western nations have made the Rushdie case a litmus test for measuring any meaningful reforms. He faces tough opposition even inside the Iranian parliament, or Majlis. On Monday, clerics in that body echoed the "fatwa", with Majlis Speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri taking the initiative and declaring that the decree against Rushdie "will be carried out by Moslems to teach a lesson to those who oppose God and God's prophets." His remarks were distributed by the official Iranian news agency, IRNA. The agency noted that the Revolutionary Guards, the paramilitary unit that helped bring Ayatollah Khomeini to power, had issued their own statement on the ninth anniversary of the "fatwa" supporting the action.

    "The apostate Rushdie has insulted all sanctities and all great prophets and particularly Islam's dear Prophet (Mohammed), and Iman Khomeini issued this order on the basis of the principles of Islamic and sharia (religious) law," Nateq-Nouri added.

    While Salman Rushdie remains in hiding, he continues to speak out on behalf of freedom of conscience. Earlier this week, he told the BBC program Newsnight that free speech had to include "the defense of the unsayable."

    "If you're going to defend the principle of free speech... it must begin at the point where someone says something you despise. While people are saying things you broadly agree with, it's no trick to defend their right to say so."

    Rushdie added, "When you ban areas of human activity, they don't stop happening, they simply go underground. I'd rather prefer to have them out in the open where you can argue with him."

    Meanwhile, certain political figures continue a spirited defense of Rushdie. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook recently reiterated the European Union's condemnation of the "fatwa."

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