Protection of Salman Rushdie
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 7212, report of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, rapporteur: Mr Franck. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 15 March 1995.
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly is deeply concerned that, for over six years, Salman Rushdie and anyone involved in the publication of his book The Satanic Verses have been under threat from a death sentence imposed by the Iranian authorities.
2. It condemns the incitation to murder constituted by this decree and the huge reward offered to any Muslim who implements it.
3. It condemns the acts perpetrated in connection with this sentence, which have already cost the life of a translator and caused serious injury to several other people.
4. The Assembly reiterates its commitment to the respect of human rights and in particular the freedom of thought and expression guaranteed by Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
5. With the support of the statements made by various national and international bodies, it calls on the Iranian Government and other authorities to repeal the death sentence passed on Salman Rushdie and anyone involved in the publication of his book.
6. It invites the governments of the member states:
6.1 to afford protection to Salman Rushdie when he visits their country;
6.2 to seek the lifting of the religious decree (fatwah) against Salman Rushdie and those associated with the publication of The Satanic Verses;
6.3 to make the resumption or continuation of their trade and diplomatic relations with Iran contingent on this decree being repealed;
6.4 to consider the negative influence of the Salman Rushdie case on other cases, among them the writer Taslima Nasreen, and take similar action against all these persecutions.
