The World - News from April 7, 1989

The new spiritual leader of Muslims in Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg--whose predecessor was murdered last month in Brussels’ main mosque--has received death threats, Brussels police reported. “We are taking this very seriously,” a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said the telephoned threats that Imam Samir Rahdi received apparently stemmed from his moderate views. The previous imam, Abdullah Ahdal, a Sunni Muslim, was killed along with an aide after Ahdal rejected the death threat that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader and a Shiite Muslim, issued against author Salman Rushdie for his novel “The Satanic Verses.” A pro-Iranian group in Beirut has claimed responsibility for the murders.