Khomeini Offers Bounty: Rushdie's Satanic Verses
Khomeini issued the fatwa against Salman Rushdie without reading The Satanic Verses. He relied on summaries from advisors. The bounty started at $3 million — Iranian religious foundations later raised it to $3.3 million. Rushdie went into hiding for nine years. His Japanese translator was murdered. His Italian translator was stabbed. His Norwegian publisher was shot. Bookstores that stocked the novel were firebombed. In 2022, thirty-three years later, a man stabbed Rushdie at a literary event in New York. He lost sight in one eye.
February 24, 1989
37 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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