In mid-June 2007, Salman Rushdie, the British-Indian novelist and author of the novel The Satanic Verses, was created a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II. Soon after the news of the knighthood was released protests against the honour were held in Malaysia and in Pakistan where effigies of the writer were publicly burnt. On 19 June 2007, governments in both Pakistan and Iran summoned their British ambassadors to officially protest against the award. While many groups and individuals renewed the call to execute Rushdie, the author stated that he "is not commenting on the latest threats to his life. It is understood he is anxious not to inflame the situation". When asked by the Associated Press if his silence was at the request of the British government, Rushdie replied by e-mail stating "The British authorities have not asked me to do or not do anything. I have simply chosen to remain out of this storm for the moment. And nobody is turning anything down." The media noted in July 2007 that Rushdie "has not been seen in public since the 16 June announcement of his knighthood." However, he was photographed receiving his knighthood formally the next year at a ceremony which, breaking with tradition, was not announced in advance of his attendance.
Knighthood
Rushdie was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on 16 June 2007. He remarked, "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way." His knighthood was part of the UK's twice a year honours ritual "designed to recognise outstanding achievement – is part of an ancient and complex honours system." Rushdie's award was concurrent with 946 honours which included 21 knighthoods. The knighthood list was determined by independent committees that vet nominations from the government and the public. The Queen and the Prime Minister only had a ceremonial role in approving them.
The arts and media committee (one of eight similar committees) proposed Rushdie's honour to the main committee who then forwarded it with others to the prime minister. The arts and media committee was chaired by investment banker and former chairman of the trustees of the National Gallery, Lord Rothschild. Its other members were "Jenny Abramsky, the BBC's director of radio and music; novelist and poet Ben Okri, who is vice-president of the English chapter of PEN International, which campaigns on behalf of writers who face persecution; Andreas Whittam Smith, former editor of the Independent; John Gross, the author and former theatre critic of the Sunday Telegraph; and two permanent secretaries, one from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and one from the Scottish Government." Smith told reporters that the question of political outrage was not one they were authorised to examine, "Very properly, we were concerned only with merit in relation to the level of the award." All other aspects were for the main committee to examine. The British Foreign Office, which has a permanent secretary on the main committee, announced that there had been no requests to gauge possible Muslim reaction to the knighthood. It was noted that Rushdie's 13 books have won numerous awards, including the Booker Prize for Midnight's Children in 1981, the Booker of Bookers prize, the Whitbread novel award (twice), and the James Tait Black memorial prize.
PEN International had been a constant supporter of Rushdie being honoured, believing that awarding the author (born in India) would be "seen as a positive step in British-Asian relations." The director of their London chapter, Nathan Heawood said the group was shocked at the negative reaction, adding "The honour is for services to literature and a very belated recognition that he is a world writer, who was in the vanguard of a writing tradition that exploded in the 80s in South Asia. It seems a shame that a few lines in his fourth novel should have turned him into this hate figure. He has become a Guy Fawkes figure to be thrown on a bonfire whenever it suits a government to divert attention from what is happening in their own countries."
In response to criticism of the award by some foreign nations, the British Government stated that Rushdie's honour recognises free speech and is part of their "desire to honour Muslims in the British community." British Home Secretary John Reid also defended the award, saying that the UK has "a set of values that accrues people honours for their contribution to literature even when they don't agree with our point of view. That's our way and that's what we stand by." Speaking about the reaction to The Satanic Verses Reid insisted that allowing such works was not a plot targeting Islam, saying "A lot of people were upset when John Cleese made Life of Brian. Others had been offended by Mel Gibson's 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ. ...[Britons] have a right to express opinions and a tolerance of other people's point of view, and we don't apologise for that." In a similar light, John Sutherland, emeritus professor of literature and former Booker prize judge, noted that Islam was not the only institution held up for criticism by Rushdie in his most controversial book. He pointed out that "For the writer of The Satanic Verses, which was extremely rude about England, it's certainly unusual [to be so honoured]."
Rushdie was ultimately knighted in an investiture ceremony on 25 June 2008 which formalised his standing as a Knight Bachelor.
Iranian reaction Ambassador summoned On 19 June 2007, British Ambassador Geoffrey Adams, was summoned to appear before the Iranian Foreign Ministry where he was told by Foreign Ministry director Ebrahim Rahimpour that "This insulting, suspicious and improper act by the British government is an obvious example of fighting against Islam." The ministry also qualified the honour as rewarding "a hated apostate" and declared it Islamophobic. Ambassador Adams was told that the knighthood was seen as a "'provocative act' which angered one and a half billion Muslims worldwide." Adams insisted that "the honour was given for Rushdie's services for literature and should therefore not be regarded as insult."
Politicians protest Also on the 19th, Mohammad Reza Bahonar vice speaker of the Majlis of Iran, told the nation's parliament that the knighthood "has hurt the feelings of more than 1.5 billion Muslims" and that "Salman Rushdie has turned into a hated corpse which cannot be resurrected by any action. The action by the British queen in knighting Salman Rushdie, the apostate, is an unwise one. The British monarch lives under this illusion that Britain is still a 19th-century superpower and that bestowing titles is something still deemed important." The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told reporters that "Awarding a person who is one of the most hated figures in the Islamic world is a clear sign of the anti-Islamic stance of high-ranking British officials. ...[It proves desecration of Islamic values in the West] is totally organised and done with the support and under the direction of those countries."
On Sunday 24 June 2007 Gholamali Haddadadel, the Iranian speaker of parliament spoke against the honour on state television. He said "The latest act of the British government was shameless and imprudent and can not be interpreted to anything but blind hostility and absolute brainlessness. The Muslims of the world will not leave this imprudent and shameless act without response."
Death fatwa still in effect After Friday prayer services on 22 June 2007, prominent cleric Hujjat al-Islam Ahmad Khatami spoke to worshipers by broadcast on state radio from Tehran. He addressed the death sentence issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini against Rushdie, saying "In the Islamic Iran that revolutionary fatwa of Imam [Khomeini] is still alive and cannot be changed." He went on to say that "The old and decrepit government of Great Britain should know that the era of their empire is over and today they are a valet in the service of the United States." While in 1998 the Iranian government (under British diplomatic pressure) declared it would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie," many clerics like Khatami rejected the move. Even soon after the government's disavowal, the Iranian press reported three clerics calling on their followers to kill Rushdie, stating that the fatwa was irrevocable. As late as January 2005, Khomeini's successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced that "he still believed the British novelist was an apostate whose killing would be authorized by Islam."
Iranian newspapers have been covering the story extensively viewing both Rushdie and the British government in a negative light. One example is the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper which reflecting on Queen Elizabeth II said, "The question is what the old British crone sought by knighting Rushdie: to help him? Well, her act only shortens Rushdie's pathetic life."
On 25 June 2007, foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini was confronted by the local media on why Iran's position against the knighthood was more moderate when compared to other Muslim nations especially that of nearby Pakistan (see below). Hosseini noted that not only had he immediately condemned the knighthood as Islamophobia, but in a seeming reversal of his nation's previous stand said "The stance of the Islamic Republic of Iran with regard to this issue has not changed from what was put forward by Imam Khomeini." In a similar statement Parliamentarian for Tehran, Mehdi Kuchakzadeh, said "Rushdie died the moment the late Imam (Ayatollah Khomeini) issued the fatwa."
Also on the 25th, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission appeared with his Norwegian counterpart (Olaf Akselsson) to respond to Norway's request for a cancellation of the death fatwa. Boroujerdi stated that the "Late Imam Khomeini's decree on Salman Rushdie is eternal and irrevocable. Honoring religious sanctities is necessary and all societies must respect this. All countries have a red line in their policies. For instance, in spite of freedom of speech a university professor and a political figure loses his job because of denying the Holocaust in Europe, insulting Muhammad has caused the late Imam to issue the decree which is irreversible."
On 29 June 2007, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati delivering Friday prayers over state run radio said he "hoped that the late Imam Khomeini's 1989 fatwa in sentencing the apostate writer to death will go in effect." He also spoke about the knighthood saying that "The result of such an act of Britain is its turning into [the] bete noire of the world nations. These measures are the reason the US and Britain have become the most hated states in the world's developed camp." He also called on the people of Iraq and Lebanon "to be vigilant against the arrogant powers' divisive plots."
Private bounty offered The Organisation to Commemorate Martyrs of the Muslim World offered $150,000 to anyone killing Rushdie. Their secretary general, Forouz Rajaefar, declared that "The British and the supporters of the anti-Islam Salman Rushdie could rest assured that the writer's nightmare will not end until the moment of his death and we will bestow kisses on the hands of whomsoever is able to execute this apostate."
Pakistani reaction Early protests After the news of the knighthood was released, "hundreds of people participated in protests in Islamabad and other cities" with some of the protesters calling on their government "to expel the British high commissioner".
Parliament's first resolution On 18 June 2007, Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution condemning the knighthood and demanding the British revoke it. The resolution was passed unanimously.
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