Surely not to debase and trivialize a sacred law by making it an adolescent fantasy, a state-sponsored Iranian studio is developing a game whose objective is to kill a Salman Rushdie (author of The Satanic Verses, Midnight’s Children) avatar, because it’s definitely going to educate the youth and not embolden the already-pretty-smug enemy. A man never shy of telling you your faith is garbage, the re-emergent, prized author was never a fan of video games, even though he sought their influence in his last children’s book.

Well, now videogames aren’t his fans, either. The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict suggests a seemingly very calculated, clean trial without many explosions. Indeed, his life must be stressful, but Rushdie has seemed happier than ever, dancing around Manhattan with a fatwa on his head. From the Wall Street Journal:

 “We felt we should find a way to introduce our third and fourth generation to the fatwa against Salman Rushdie and its importance,” Mohammed-Taqi Fakhrian, a representative of the students association, told Iranian newswire Mehr at the computer expo.

Mr. Fakhrian was tight-lipped about the game, but several commentators have opined on how and where Mr. Rushdie would meet his “verdict.”

“Presumably, the new video game will have Iranian youth chasing down and killing the author in the West, perhaps even on the very streets of New York,” U.S. tabloid New York News Daily speculated, while the Guardian discreetly suggested that radical Mr. Khomeini would be the mastermind behind aggressive attacks on Mr. Rushdie.

Whether this prompts anyone to read his books is uncertain, but his tabloid presence is also stronger than ever, as Rushdie becomes one with our holy garbage.

[via The Wall Street Journal]