Salman Rushdie strongly criticized his publisher for pulling a historical novel about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride above concerns about angering Muslims.
Rushdie, whose "The Satanic Verses" led to a death decree in 1989 from Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and forced the author for years to live under police protection, said the Random House Publishing Group had allowed itself to be intimidated.
"I am very disappointed to hear that my publishers, Random House, have in the offing canceled another author’s novel, manifestly because of their concerns about possible Islamic reprisals," Rushdie said Thursday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
"This is censorship by terror, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed."
Random House has acknowledged pulling Sherry Jones’ inauguration novel, "The Jewel of Medina," about Muhammad and his little one bride, Aisha.
The publisher, which had planned to release the book this month, said in a recent statement that "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book "could incite acts of violence by a ungenerous, communist segment."
On Thursday, Random House spokeswoman Carol Schneider said, "We certainly respect Mr. Rushdie’s opinion, but we place upright by our decision, which we made with considerable deliberation and self-reproach."
Rushdie’s last several books, including "Fury" and "Shalimar the Clown," have been released by Random House. He was published around Viking Penguin at the heretofore "Satanic Verses" came out, in 1988.
"The Satanic Verses" referred to a legend — about Muhammad being tricked nearby agents of the devil — that enraged some Muslims. The book was banned in India, and burned by demonstrators in England. The novel’s Japanese translator was murdered, the Italian translator stabbed.
Viking Penguin, which received numerous bomb threats, continued to promulgate the hardcover but hesitated to release the paperback, eventually put out by a coalition of writers, publishers and vulnerable exact organizations.
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