| | This cowardice shown in advocating appeasement to the Bali Muslims has the precedent in 1989 when Salman Rushdie was sentenced to death by an Iranian cleric while Rushdie was a British citizen. His crime was ostensibly insulting Muslims by publishing his "Satanic Verses."
The fatwa stated:
The author of The Satanic Verses, a text written, edited, and published against Islam, against the Prophet of Islam, and against the Koran, along with all the editors and publishers aware of its contents, are condemned to capital punishment. I call on all valiant Muslims wherever they may be in the world to execute this sentence without delay, so that no one henceforth will dare insult the sacred beliefs of the Muslims.
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rushdie.htm
When Ayatollah Khomeini called on all zealous Muslims to execute the writer and the publishers of the book, Rushdie was forced into hiding. Also an aide to Khomeini offered a million-dollar reward for Rushdie's death. In 1993 Rushdie's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was wounded in an attack outside his house. In 1997 the reward was doubled, and the next year the highest Iranian state prosecutor Morteza Moqtadale renewed the death sentence. During this period of fatwa violent protest in India, Pakistan, and Egypt caused several deaths. In 1990 Rushdie published an essay In Good Faith to appease his critics and issued an apology in which he reaffirmed his respect for Islam. However, Iranian clerics did not repudiate their death threat. The following was published Sunday, October 4, 1998 by the BBC:
In remarks quoted by Iranian radio on Saturday, Mr Kharrazi said: "We did not adopt a new position with regard to the apostate Salman Rushdie, and our position remains the same as that which has been repeatedly stated by the Islamic Republic of Iran's officials.
"In fact, it was the British Government which decided to elevate its political relations with Iran to ambassadorial level.
"This itself is further evidence of the just position and power of Iran in the international community." Last month Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said the Rushdie affair should be considered completely finished.
I firmly believe that if the U.K. had stood up for the rights of this citizen with the strongest of sanctions, including military action, the Muslim world would not be the same today.
Sam
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