The best response to Salman Rushdie’s stabbing

The attack on Salman Rushdie on-stage in New York is deeply shocking and sadly not surprising. People have been calling for his death for over three decades, ever since the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. That novel led to a fatwa from the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran and the Iranian government putting a bounty on the British author´s head. They were encouraged in this by Muslim leaders in Britain. The repercussions for Rushdie were swift.

Rushdie himself went into hiding, protected by the security services of the British state at the behest of Margaret Thatcher´s government. He stayed in hiding for many years, during which time there were numerous attempts on his life, including from an Iranian agent who blew himself up in London. The novel´s Japanese translator – Hitoshi Igarashi – was stabbed and killed. The Norwegian publisher of the novel was shot outside his home in Oslo.

Then, during the years of the last Labour government in Britain, a compromise of a kind appeared to have been reached. The Iranian government said they would no longer encourage attacks on Rushdie but nor would they impede them. Later they changed tack again saying that the fatwa remained in place. Various scholars said that it wouldn´t matter anyway, because the only person who could rescind the fatwa was the person who had issued it, and he was dead.

Nevertheless, in recent years Rushdie has been able to come out of hiding and lead what seemed like a comparatively normal life. He has appeared at public events, and the last time I saw him I was struck by the fact that he seemed to be moving around like anyone else.