Iranian religious group ups bounty on Rushdie

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.