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Controversial Brit-Indian author Salman Rushdie has dismissed Iran's latest threat against his life, saying it was simply the latest product of the 'outrage industry' and added that there is 'no evidence' of people being interested in the bounty. "This was essentially one priest in Iran looking for a headline," Rushdie said as he spoke at a Barnes & Noble in Union Square , New York , before about 400 people. "Avoid being condemned to death by the leader of a tyrannical country," he advised the audience on Tuesday. Iran 's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 declared Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses was blasphemous and called for his death, the New York Post reports. A semi-official Iranian religious foundation headed by Ayatollah Hassan Saneii has raised the bounty for Rushdie from 2.8 million to 3.3 million dollars after recent protests against an anti-Islamic film that has outraged the Muslim world. According to the paper, Rushdie spoke of having armed policemen 'In his kitchen', people 'licensed to kill.' Rushdie's remarks came while discussing his memoir about the fatwa, 'Joseph Anton,' which has just been published to strong reviews and encouraging sales. According to the paper, he said he's proud of the book and of his fight for a most precious freedom, 'freedom of expression.'

Rushdie calls latest death threat Iranian priests' quest for headline