Rushdie threatens to sue over guard's book claims

Published on Saturday 2 August 2008 19:51

AUTHOR Salman Rushdie has threatened to sue a former police protection officer for libel for his portrayal of the Satanic Verses writer while under guard.

Rushdie spent nine years in hiding being protected by Metropolitan police bodyguards after his controversial novel was published in 1989, provoking worldwide protests from muslims and a fatwa (order to kill) against him.

But Ron Evans, one of his former guards, has now written a book of his own that goes into detail about the time he and other officers spent with Rushdie.

The book, On Her Majesty's Service, published this week, claims the author was locked in a cupboard while the officers went to a pub for a drink because they were "so fed up with his attitude".

It also claims that Rushdie was nicknamed "Scruffy" because of his unkempt appearance and that the author billed the police force 40 a night for putting up officers in his home. "We were paying, or rather the taxpayer was paying, Rushdie to protect him," the book says.

An angered Rushdie said the book portrayed him as "mean, nasty, tight-fisted, arrogant and extremely unpleasant. In my opinion, I am none of those things.

"The simple fact is that nothing of this sort happened. My relationship with my protection team was always cordial, certainly entirely professional. This kind of absurd behaviour never occurred.

"There are three references to drinking on duty – it is absolutely forbidden for police officers, particularly in possession of firearms, to drink on duty. It is absurd the idea that they would lock me in a cupboard and go to the pub."

Rushdie added: "The idea that I was so unpleasant to them that they locked me up is totally made up."

He confirmed he had been paid for providing accommodation for his bodyguards but insisted that was at the police force's own request. "Police officers thought if I was incurring costs it would be fair to contribute to that."

Rushdie's lawyer, Mark Stephens, has written to the publisher, John Blake Publishing Ltd, asking for the book to be withdrawn.

"This is not a free speech issue, this is libel," Rushdie said. "I will not have my character destroyed and presented to the world as something that it is not. If they publish it as it is there will be a libel action."

In 2005, Evans, who is no longer a police officer, was convicted at Feltham magistrates court on nine counts of false accounting and ordered to pay more than 6,000 in fines and to cover prosecution costs.

The Metropolitan Police refused to comment on details of his book, but said: "We regret that he chooses to publish this book. There were a number of passages within the draft that caused (us) concern. Following legal advice we negotiated with the publishers to make some alterations."

The publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988 sparked global protests in Muslim communities, and the book was thrown onto burning pyres in some parts of the world. In 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini announced a fatwa, calling on Muslims to find and kill the author. It was lifted in 1998.