Harry Potter in Persian?

I'll be honest here. While we do have all but the latest volume, neither Marcie or I have ever read a single Harry Potter book. It never really caught my interest, and we've been trading nonfiction books back and forth for the better part of two years. Fiction comes on vacations, and we don't get those too often. So, aside from what we've heard in passing about the books, we really next-to-nothing about Harry Potter. But today Michael Rubin in his NRO Iran news round-up post at the Corner noticed that a translator is working on finishing up the last Harry Potter book for distribution in Iran:

Iranian translator Parto Eshraq is currently working on the translation of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series of novels written by British author JK Rowling.

According to Eshraq, he still has the two final chapters to complete and then it will be published by Nahid Publications.

Mohammad Nurollahi’s translation of the seventh Harry Potter book and the Persian translation of the Internet counterfeit version are also currently available in bookstores. Eshraq has previously translated the first six volumes of the Harry Potter series which includes “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”.

In response to this story, Michael Rubin received an e-mail from a reader:

One question about the Harry Potter translation to be published in Iran ... does Lord Voldemort win in that version?

Heh. Nope, but we hear the vaunted 12th Imam will make an appearance at the end, and kick the snot out of Lord Voldemort.

Publius II