No Sir, Iran tells British envoy

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to complain over Britain’s decision to grant a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie

Iran’s Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador to complain over Britain’s decision to grant a knighthood to author Salman Rushdie, who was accused of blasphemy by Iran’s former supreme leader for his book The Satanic Verses, the state news agency reported on Wednesday.

In the meeting, Iranian Foreign Ministry official Ebrahim Rahimpour told ambassador Geoffrey Adams that the decision was a “provocative act” that has angered Muslims.

Adams said Rushdie was being honoured for his works of literature and underlined that the British government respects Islam, the state Islamic Republic News Agency said. In the Tuesday evening meeting, Adams promised to relay Tehran’s protest to London.

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On Wednesday, 221 lawmakers from Iran’s 290-member Parliament signed a statement condemning Rushdie’s knighthood, state radio reported.

Rushdie went into hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa 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.

Britain announced Saturday that it would award Rushdie a knighthood, along with CNN reporter Christiane Amanpour, a KGB double agent and several others. Rushdie is one of the most prominent novelists of the late 20th century and is known for his unique mix of history with magic realism.

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