Iran foundation ups bounty on Salman Rushdie

Moscow: An Iranian religious foundation has raised its reward for the killing of British writer Salman Rushdie to $3.3 million, a media report said. The reward of the 15 Khordad Foundation was increased by $500,000, the ISNA news agency reported Sunday. The announcement comes amidst a wave of riots that swept acrosss the globe after the release of the US-made short film titled "Innocence of Muslims", although the novelist has nothing to do with this movie.

Rushdie, an Indian-born British writer, was condemned to death in 1989 by Iran`s late religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, over his novel "The Satanic Verses". The Iranian leader dubbed the novel as blasphemous and offensive to Islam and issued a fatwa (religious edict) calling for Rushdie`s death. The initial bounty for the writer`s head was $1 million but has been increased several times since. IANS