Concern remains for Salman Rushdie
By Hillel Italie
Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, February 10, 1999; NEW YORK (AP) -- Ten years ago Sunday,
Salman Rushdie received what he has called his ``unfunny Valentine.''
On Feb. 14, 1989, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned ``The Satanic
Verses'' as blasphemy, and called for Rushdie's death. The author, who
lives in London, was forced into hiding. The novel's Japanese translator
was murdered and the Italian and Norwegian translators were attacked.
A decade later, the 51-year-old Rushdie is, in many ways, a fortunate
man. He has long outlived Khomeini, the Iranian leader who died less than
four months after issuing the ``fatwa'' (a religious death threat). ``The
Satanic Verses'' has sold more than a million copies worldwide.
Rushdie continues to write and has been seen increasingly in public.
Last fall, after Iran's foreign minister said his country would not enforce
the fatwa, an international committee set up on Rushdie's behalf was disbanded.
But Rushdie's novel, which satirized the Prophet Mohammed and the origins
of the Koran, is still banned in several Middle Eastern and Asian countries
and is still controversial in parts of the West; only last year did a mainstream
British publisher, Vintage, get around to issuing the book in paperback.
And although Rushdie has said the ``last chapter'' of his ordeal is
complete and even boasted that he was ``happy'' not to be a Muslim, others
doubt he is out of danger.
``Is the danger entirely gone? Of course not. There's still a bounty
on his head. He still receives constant threats,'' said Susan Sontag, a
friend of Rushdie's and a former president of the American center of International
PEN, a writers' organization that vehemently opposed the fatwa.
``It's a step in the right direction, but one can't really jump up
and down and start clapping yet,'' said author Paul Auster, also a friend
of Rushdie's. ``But to go through what he's gone through and not have moments
of pique and anger and say things you would regret is perfectly normal.''
Daniel Pipes, an author and director of the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based
think tank, said there was nothing new about last fall's announcement.
He said that Iranian officials long had claimed they would not act upon
the death sentence and that they were simply interested in improving relations
with Britain, a desired trading partner.
``The fatwa is in effect, and will remain in effect,'' said Pipes,
who wrote about the death sentence in the book ``The Rushdie Affair.''
``My view was when Khomeini died, Rushdie had no chance to escape this
edict. No one who took Khomeini's place had the stature to revoke it.''
Carmel Bedford, who served as secretary for the now-defunct International
Rushdie Defense Committee, said the committee's concern was that the fatwa
had government authorization. Without that, she said, the author is relatively
safe, despite the threats from religious leaders.
``Rushdie now is just the same as any celebrity who has that appeal
for lunatics,'' said Bedford, whose organization was based in London and
was affiliated with International PEN.
``After the agreement last fall with the Iranian government, we expected
to have people come out of the woodwork and make threats, which they did
in the immediate weeks after. But that was to try and galvanize extremists,
and they are in a minority.''
Support for the fatwa remains. In Rushdie's native India, a powerful
Muslim cleric warned of violent protests against any visit by the author.
India, which has a sizable Muslim minority and was the first to ban ``The
Satanic Verses,'' recently granted Rushdie a visa for the first time since
the 1980s. Rushdie's lawyer, Vijay Shankaras, has said the author could
visit India within two or three months.
In Iran, a foundation has offered a $2.8 million reward for Rushdie's
death and hundreds turned out for an anti-Rushdie demonstration. More than
half of the countrye come out of the woodwork and make threats, which they
did in the immediate weeks after. But that was to try and galvanize extremists,
and they are in a minority.''
Speaking to reporters last fall, Rushdie said he would still need some
kind of security, but no longer ``the colossal apparatus of state protection.''
He said a number of suspected stalkers were expelled from Britain over
the years, but that none came close to harming him.
Compared to some authors, Rushdie is certainly lucky. According to
International PEN's Writers-in-Prison Committee, over 300 writers and journalists
have been killed in the past five years and at any given time some 300
are in prison. For all the worrying that no one cares anymore about writing,
some unquestionably still care -- enough to want the writer silenced.
``Writers are dangerous because they're free,'' Auster said. ``They
think for themselves, and in a repressive regime that's the most dangerous
thing.''
Many Iranian writers have lived in exile since the 1979 Islamic revolution
and it is believed that several who remained in the country were murdered.
Just last year, writers Mohammad Jafar Pouyandeh and Mohammad Mokhtari
disappeared from their homes. Their bodies were found dumped on the outskirts
of Tehran, both apparently strangled.
The two had tried to establish a writers association and had been summoned
by a court two months earlier to answer questions about their activities.
``If I were Salman Rushdie, I would be concerned,'' said novelist Joanne
Leedom-Ackerman, vice president of International PEN. ``Clearly, with the
number of writers who have been killed, all factions in Iran are not at
peace with freedom of expression.''
Rushdie, a prominent writer well before ``Satanic Verses,'' is the
author of eight works of fiction, including the Booker Prize-winning novel
``Midnight's Children,'' and three works of nonfiction. He declined to
comment on the anniversary of the fatwa and has been known to become annoyed
when interviewers bring up similarities between his fiction and his life.
His new novel, ``The Ground Beneath Her Feet,'' will be published by
Henry Holt this spring. The main character is a famous pop singer who is
trapped in a major earthquake and lost to her friends forever.
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