LISBON, Dec 2, 2006 (AFP) - British author Salman Rushdie no longer fears for his life because of the death threats issued against him by Islamic clerics in response to his book "The Satanic Verses" nearly 20 years ago, he said in comments published Saturday in Portugal. "I don't know what the Iranians think of me except for the fact that at one point they wanted to kill me and now they don't seem as interested," he told a conference in Portugal's second-city Oporto, daily newspaper Publico reported. You're forgetting that the Mad Mullahs™ have a very long memory. Khomenini wanted you dead and that's good enough for the present generation.
"I don't see what happened as a publicity tool for my books. And if anyone doubts that, I strongly encourage that person to experience what I lived through," he added, according to the paper.
Rushdie was forced into hiding for a decade after Iran's late Ayatollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or opinion on Islamic law, ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie because the book allegedly insulted Islam. In 1998, the Iranian government declared it would not support but could not rescind the fatwa. Since then his life has gradually returned to that of a literary star, with frequent foreign travel for speeches and public appearances.
He's still going to catch a knife someday from some crazed turban.