Salman Rushdie’s battle for free speech has been lost, friends say
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Supporters claim censorship is now so rife that the author would struggle to publish The Satanic Verses today.
By Patrick Sawer, Senior News Reporter
Sir Salman Rushdie’s fight for freedom of expression has been ‘lost’, according to his friends and supporters, with censorship now so rife that the author would struggle to publish The Satanic Verses today.
Rushdie’s determination to keep voicing his vision free of dogmatic strictures has been severely undermined by extremist religious leaders and society’s willingness to accommodate them, they say.
Their comments came after Rushdie continued to receive emergency medical treatment in hospital after being stabbed up to 15 times at a literary festival in western New York State.
Frances D’Souza, his close friend, said: ‘No one anywhere should ever, ever, be threatened with death for writing a novel, yet we seem to be living in a world, despite Salman’s fight, where that could be a possibility.
‘There are other instances around the world -...
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