Death Threats Against Rushdie Thwart Festival Appearance

The World

It has been more than 20 years since Salman Rushdie published “The Satanic Verses.”

Many Muslims called the novel blasphemous.

Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.

That sent Rushdie into hiding for years.

Now, there is a new conflict over Rushdie in India, where he was burn.

The British author was scheduled to speak this weekend at India’s largest literary festival organized in the northwestern city of Jaipur.

But Rushdie canceled after police warned him of a threat against his life.

The organizers tried to have Rushdie appear by video-link, but the owner of the hotel where the festival was held canceled the video link Tuesday, just minutes before Rushdie was scheduled to appear.

Are you with The World?

The story you just read is available to read for free because thousands of listeners and readers like you generously support our nonprofit newsroom. Every day, the reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you: We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.

When you make a gift of $10 or more a month, we’ll invite you to a virtual behind-the-scenes tour of our newsroom to thank you for being with The World.