By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

 FEB. 25, 2016

It happens nearly every February: Iranian hard-line organizations make a symbolic gesture to breathe new life into the fatwa against the author Salman Rushdie. The fatwa, declared on Feb. 14, 1989, by Khomeini, called for Mr. Rushdie to be killed for his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which was deemed blasphemous.
True to form, on Monday, 40 Iranian news agencies announced they had raised $600,000 to add to the bounty on Mr. Rushdie. In theory, that bounty now stands at nearly $4 million, although it’s far from clear that the money would ever be paid. But that is not the point. Monday’s announcement has far more to do with power struggles in Iran ahead of Friday’s elections for seats in Iran’s Parliament and its Assembly of Experts (a group of 88 senior clerics) than it does with Mr. Rushdie.
Though Iran’s hardline political leaders have stacked the electoral deck in their favor by culling reformists from the roster of approved candidates, they are taking no chances that moderates might be elected. Since a large voter turnout is thought to favor moderate candidates, dragging up the old fatwa against Mr. Rushdie is intended to overshadow the elections and cause a stir to make “other issues more important than voting.”