伊朗提高追殺英國小說家拉什迪的賞金
A group of hard-line Iranian news media organizations says it has raised $600,000 to add to a bounty for the killing of the British novelist Salman Rushdie.
一羣立場強硬的伊朗新聞媒體組織稱，它們已經募集了60萬美元，用於提高刺殺英國小說家薩爾曼·拉什迪(Salman Rushdie)的賞金。
Iran’s former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling for Mr. Rushdie to be killed because of his book “The Satanic Verses,” which the ayatollah found to be blasphemous and insulting toward Muslims. Mr. Rushdie has since then been living largely out of sight and under the protection of bodyguards.
1989年，伊朗前最高精神領袖阿亞圖拉·魯霍拉·霍梅尼(Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini)發佈“法特瓦”(fatwa)，既宗教指令，懸賞刺殺拉什迪，因爲霍梅尼認爲拉什迪的作品《撒旦詩篇》(The Satanic Verses)褻瀆神聖，是對穆斯林的侮辱。從那以後。拉什迪大部分時間裏一直在保鏢的保護下隱居。
The semiofficial Fars news agency, one of the organizations involved, reported that the new reward money was gathered during a trade fair called the Islamic Republic’s Digital Media Exhibition. It quoted the secretary of the exhibition saying that the $600,000 had been announced last week to mark the anniversary of the 1989 fatwa.
這些團體中包括半官方性質的Fars新聞社，據它報道，這筆新賞金是在名爲“伊斯蘭共和國數字媒體展覽”的交易會上募集的。它引用該展覽祕書長的話，稱這60萬美元賞金是上週公佈的，正趕上1989年法特瓦的週年紀念。
The Iranian government distanced itself from calls for Mr. Rushdie’s death under former President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who declared in 1998 that the fatwa had ended. But the religious authorities said it could not be withdrawn by anyone other than Ayatollah Khomeini, who died four months after issuing it. His successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 that the fatwa remained valid.
在前總統穆罕默德·卡塔米(Mohammad Khatami)領導下的伊朗政府與拉什迪的謀殺令脫離了關係，1998年，身爲改革主義者的卡塔米宣佈該法特瓦失效。但宗教權威人士稱，只有阿亞圖拉·霍梅尼本人才能終結這個命令，而謀殺令頒佈四個月之後，他就去世了。他的繼任者阿亞圖拉 ·阿里·哈梅內伊(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)於2005年宣佈，這條法特瓦依然有效。
The decree had already put a considerable price on Mr. Rushdie’s head: A religious organization called the 15 Khordad Foundation initially offered a $2.7 million reward to anyone carrying out the fatwa, then increased it to $3.3 million in 2012. The new money, bringing the total bounty to nearly $4 million, came from 40 news outlets listed by Fars, which said that it had contributed $30,000.
早先的刺殺令已經爲拉什迪的人頭開出了相當高的價格。一個名叫“15 Khordad 基金會”的宗教組織出價270萬美元，獎勵執行這條法特瓦的人，2012年又把獎金提高到330萬美元。如今這筆新的款項把賞金提高到將近400萬美元，來自Fars新聞社列舉的40家新聞媒體，該社也提供了3萬美元。
Iranian hard-line organizations tend to make symbolic gestures involving the Rushdie fatwa every year around its anniversary, Feb. 14. Whether the bounty really would be paid is unclear. Many news organizations in Iran do not turn a profit, and some are subsidized by state organizations.
這些伊朗強硬組織每年2月14日都會就刺殺拉什迪的法特瓦做出象徵性姿態。賞金是否會真正被支付，目前尚不明確。伊朗的很多新聞組織都不盈利，有些出版物是由國家機構補貼的。
The announcement highlights the continuing political infighting in Iran as elections approach for Parliament and the Assembly of Experts, a council that would choose the next supreme leader. The government of President Hassan Rouhani has promised to improve relations with the West, while his hard-line opponents have campaigned against any opening. Analysts said the hard-liners may have been seeking an electoral edge by raising the Rushdie matter now.
這項聲明表明，隨着議會及“專家會議”選舉(Assembly of Experts)的臨近，伊朗內部的政治鬥爭仍在繼續——“專家會議”是負責挑選下任最高領導人的組織。哈桑·魯哈尼( Hassan Rouhani)政府承諾改善與西方的關係，而他的強硬派反對者們則反對任何開放政策。分析師們稱，通過提高拉什迪一事的懸賞金額，這些強硬分子可能是希望在選舉中謀求好處。
“This is just to overshadow the elections, because the hard-liners and their media want to dissuade people from voting in large numbers,” said Mojgan Faraji, a reformist journalist. She said the hard-liners drag up issues from the past to confuse people and to “make other issues more important than voting.”
“這只是爲了影響選舉，因爲強硬分子和他們掌握的媒體希望組織人們大規模投票，”改革派記者穆耶根·法拉吉(Mojgan Faraji)說。她說，強硬分子翻過去的老賬，是爲了讓人們感到困惑，從而“讓其他問題顯得比選舉更加重要”。
