Iran Blasts Britain For Knighting Rushdie

(AP)  Iran on Sunday condemned Britain's decision to grant a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie, who was forced into hiding for a decade after the Islamic republic's spiritual leader ordered his assassination.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the decision to grant Britain's highest honor to Rushdie, who wrote the controversial novel "The Satanic Verses," was an insult to the Muslim world.

"Awarding a person who is among the most detested characters in the Islamic society is obvious proof of anti-Islamism by ranking British officials," said Hosseini during his weekly press conference.

Rushdie went into hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to kill the author because his novel "The Satanic Verses" allegedly insulted Islam.

The Iranian government declared in 1998 that it would not support but could not rescind the fatwa. Rushdie says he receives a "sort of Valentine's card" from Iran each year on Feb. 14 letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to end his life.

"This (award) showed that the movement of insulting Muslims was not accidental but was a planned and organized move that enjoyed support of some Western countries," said Hosseini.

Britain announced its decision to award Rushdie a knighthood on Saturday, along with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour, a KGB double agent and several others.

London's decision came some three months after Iran detained 15 British sailors and marines for allegedly entering the country's territorial waters in the Persian Gulf — a claim Britain denies. The 15 were released after nearly two weeks in captivity.

Relations with London are also tense over Iran's controversial nuclear program, which Tehran claims is for peaceful purposes, but many Western countries, including Britain, suspect is cover for a weapons program.

Rushdie is one of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century and is known for his unique mix of history with magical realism. His 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for "Midnight's Children" in 1981. In 1993 the novel won the "Booker of Bookers," a special award honoring the best novel in the 25-year history of the prize.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by rlenham at 05:15 PM : Jun 18, 2007


Sorry about that, it seems that I was thinking to hard and it leaked over to your side of town. :)

[toolmangler-2009]

Mooslims whine about supposed insults to their religion, while they trash the religions of others--destroying the Buddha images in Afghanistan is but an example of the destruction of art treasures by Mooslim marauders. They cut off the heads of Jews with kitchen knives, spewing out vile hatred of Christians and Jews. They murder Hindus by the millions. Yet when someone calls them to account, they are all crying and blubbering about insults to them!
Posted by gkc99 at 04:51 PM : Jun 17, 2007


Good post!!!!! It seems that if a religion cannot stand close scrutiny it may be nothing but smoke and mirrors. If the only way a religion/organization/Ideology can continue to exist is by murdering people that question and even ridicule it it must truly be a false and useless waste of time. Let me or any one call into question or 'joke' about that which you hold dear and 'I' may decide that it might be worth checking out. then all you have to do is live what you espouse "walk the walk and talk the talk" to get my attention. If you kill everyone that disagrees with you, sooner or later the world will deem you unfit to continue and end your term on earth. You cannot convert a corpse and as for me, death threats do not scare me nor change my mind. I have met death and we are ok.

[rlenham-2009]

There are core individual rights of freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of religion that should NEVER be held hostage to any person, political system or religion that denies an individual these rights.

The furor Salman Rushdie%u2019s knighthood has caused in the Islamic world only serves to show how intolerant Islam is of any person, nation or religion that holds to these core rights.

To Britain I say kudos for the decision to knight Salman Rushdie. He is being recognized for being %u201Cone of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century whose 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for "Midnight's Children" in 1981.%u201D

To the Islamic world I say %u201CGrow up!%u201D If your religion and your prophet cannot stand up to reasoned analysis, criticism and historical evaluation then there is good reason to suspect it is a false religion existing only because it is imposed on a populus held captive by religious leaders for whom power and control are more important than the truth.

[susanhelit]

There's always another pretext. If we're talking about using words like 'crusade' - well, that's no biggie, it is a bad word to use because it's meaning implies a religious war. But if you want to say we should avoid literature, freedom of speech, to avoid irritating the extremists - hey, there's no way not to irritate the extremists.


Let's focus on the real world here - Israel is a real reason. Iran is a real reason. Support for corrupt governments is a real reason. Those are not pretexts, and there we should make sure our motives are pure and transparent.

This is just more censorship, and the muslim world flat out has to understand they cannot censor the world! They can hide from it if they like, but they cannot censor it, have us live by their values to avoid hurt feelings. We don't much like a lot they have to say either - but you don't see huge protests nor violence nor terrorist attacks about holocaust cartoons, and the million other areas where westerners find middle eastern values to be incomprehensible or wrong.

[rushman71]

DEATH TO ISLAM!!!

[prowest210]

"The west is in no interest to grant peace to Arabs and the Muslims.The West has a hidden agenda. Crusade against Islam."Posted by shazeema

Shazeema,

Its a shame that you're so thoroughly brainwashed by this fake religion invented by a common criminal/murderer/pedophile that you cannot see it for the anti-human, barbaric farce that it is.

It is your 'religion' that has brought poverty, misery and suffering on your people. In fact all muslims are the first victims of this death cult that was used for many centuries to justify pillaging, raping, enslavement and murder on an massive scale.

The best thing that can happen to your countries is the introduction of freedom and democracy-a restoration of genuine humanity that muslims haven't experienced since the advent of this barbaric ideology.

The West did not attack Islam, rather Islam has become reactivated in its drive to expand and conquer new lands. But regardless, Islam is the most dangerous ideology ever invented by humans and must be eliminated from this planet by any means. If the democracy experiment fails in the mideast, then more severe measures will be taken.

We in the West will never surrender/submit to your twisted and ultra-violent cult. The smart thing to do is give up this belief system-switch to any other religion or become an atheist. Once the West wakes up and resolves to defeat Islam, nothing will be able to stop us because we are superior to the muslim world in every way.

[gunnerv1]

Death to Islam!

[shazeema]

Comment posted by fredGrad2000: is wrong.
What i think is that he works for the Israeli intelligence Mossad. One has to sit back and realise that there is a war between Muslims and the West. Know the cause! Be fair! One sided support from the West to Israel is a major obstacle here. Middle East's dictators are supported by the west and they are protected as long as they behave in accordance to the wishes of the USA and its allies. The west is in no interest to grant peace to Arabs and the Muslims.
The volatile situation in the middle east is a real obstacle to the progress and to the good living standard of the people living there. The West has a hidden agenda. Crusade against Islam.

[tbweb]

chinesespy,,,

impressive, you made it through Chinese Firewall! They gonna catch you and use your body parts! But not until they make you eat poison pet food and brush your teeth with poison tooth paste first!

[prowest210]

'chinesespy'

You spammed that so casual readers wouldn't notice that the muslims got azz-raped on here.

DEATH TO ISLAM