issuing time:
British writer Rushdie, who was hunted by former Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini for his “Devil’s Psalm” (also translated as Satan’s Psalm), was killed by the male murderer Hadi Matar in New York State on August 12. Seriously stabbed. French President Emmanuel Macron backs Rushdie: His struggle is our struggle…
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “His (Rushdie) fight is our fight, it’s universal.” Macron also said he was “more with Rushdie today than ever before”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “I am appalled that Sir Rushdie was stabbed while exercising the right we should never cease to defend (freedom of speech).”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesman, said he was “shocked” by the attack, adding that the response to language was by no means violent.
“This act of violence is appalling,” said Jack Sullivan, security adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden.
Charlie Hebdo denounced
The French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was wiped out in 2015 by an Islamic extremist attack. The weekly said that “fatwa” and “the death penalty” cannot be justified on any grounds.”
Riss, the weekly editorial chief and one of the few survivors of the 2015 attacks, denounced in his editorial “mediocre little spiritual leaders,” “low-minded,” “literally deficient,” but for “thought, reflective,” and freedom of expression” because “these freedoms threaten their manipulation of others”.
Rushdie’s 1988 novel “Devil’s Psalm” (also translated as Satan’s Psalm) was chased and killed by the fatwa issued by former Iranian spiritual leader Khomeini, causing a sensation in the world.
Khomeini had died in 1989, but the order to kill the Fatwa was never lifted. So many translators of “The Devil’s Psalm” were attacked and even killed. For example, on July 12, 1991, the Japanese translator of the book, Associate Professor Igarashi Igarashi, was assassinated.
“30 years have passed,” Rushdie said in the fall of 2018. “Everything is fine now. I was 41 (Fatwa) and now I’m 71”. He also said, “We live in a world where the subject of fear is changing very fast and now there are so many other reasons to be afraid, there are other people to kill…”.
The master of magical realism, with a deep cultural heritage and a self-proclaimed apolitical, was knighted by the Queen of England in 2007, much to the dissatisfaction of Muslim extremists. He has written about 15 novels, teenage stories, short stories and essays in English.