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GayPASG Note: Try to
remember, religion does not trump basic civil and human rights!
The New York
Times
Iran Assails Britain
for Honoring Novelist
By REUTERS, from
nytimes on the Web, June 18, 2007
TEHRAN, June 17 -- Iran
accused Britain on Sunday of insulting Islam by awarding a knighthood to Salman
Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” prompted the Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini to issue a death warrant against him in 1989.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Mr. Rushdie, awarded for services to
literature in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honors list published Saturday, was
“one of the most hated figures” in the Islamic world.
An Iranian spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, portrayed the decision as an act
directed against Islam by Britain, which is among the nations involved in a
standoff with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
“Honoring and commending an apostate and hated figure,” Mr. Hosseini said, will
put British officials in a position “of confrontation with Islamic societies.”
He also said the honor to Mr. Rushdie was part of a deliberate and systematic
insult to Islamic values that was “planned, organized, guided and supported by
some Western countries.”
Iran formally distanced itself in 1998 from the original edict against Mr.
Rushdie, issued in early 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini, who said the book committed
blasphemy against Islam. Mr. Rushdie lived in hiding for nine years.
Ayatollah Khomeini died in June 1989.
But shortly after Iran disavowed the death edict under a deal with Britain, the
Iranian media said three Iranian clerics called on followers to kill Mr.
Rushdie, saying that the edict was irrevocable and that it was the duty of
Muslims to carry it out.
Britain’s twice-yearly honors ritual — intended to recognize outstanding
achievement — is part of a complex honors system. A total of 946 honors
were handed out in the birthday list, including 21 knighthoods.
Mr. Hosseini said the award to Mr. Rushdie was “an obvious example of fighting
against Islam by high-ranking British officials.”
London’s history of imperial intervention in Iran still overshadows ties between
the countries.
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