More than 500 Iranians have pledged to sell one of their kidneys to pay for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie, condemned to death 10 years ago by religious decree.

Islamic militia in the holy Shi'ite city of Mashhad were behind the campaign, which was endorsed by officials in the elite Revolutionary Guards, the hardline Iranian daily Kayhan reports.

A total of 508 people, including six Muslims from countries outside Iran, have signed up to sell a kidney, Kayhan said.

Selling organs is legal in Iran, with transactions overseen by a state organs bank.

The organisers, part of the Basiji volunteer militia force, planned to publicise their campaign on the internet to seek worldwide support.

Late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, condemning Mr Rushdie to death in 1989.

He accused Mr Rushdie, who only recently emerged from hiding, of blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses.

Reforms

In a deal aimed at normalising ties with the UK, Iran last year distanced itself from a $2.8m bounty offered by an Iranian Islamic foundation to execute Khomeini's decree.

In July, the first British ambassador since the Iranian revolution of 1979 took up residence in Tehran.

President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government has tried to bury the issue, as part of efforts to improve links with Western countries.

Mr Rushdie said last month he was putting his troubles with Iran behind him and had dropped plans to write an account of his decade under threat of death.