Rushdie attacks ‘climate of fear’

Published on 18/09/2012 00:00

Sir Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, said it would be “difficult” to publish the book now because of the “climate of fear” that existed.

The writer, whose latest book, Joseph Anton: A Memoir, recounts his life in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death in 1988, said many of the opponents of free expression used a “medieval vocabulary”.

He said “a book which was critical of Islam would be difficult to be published now”, and pointed to Channel 4’s recent decision to cancel a private screening of a documentary on Islamic history because of security concerns.