"I do not want to hide," says Rushdie, 30 years after the fatwa

After decades spent in the shadow of a death sentence handed down by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Salman Rushdie is a defiant defender.

"I do not want to live in hiding," he told AFP during a visit to Paris. 19659002] The novelist's life changes forever on February 14, 1989, when the Iranian spiritual leader ordered Rushdie's execution after he accused his novel "The Satanic Verses" of blaspheming. 19659002] Rushdie, who is according to some of the greatest writer that India has produced since Tagore, has spent 13 years under a false name and under the constant protection of the police.

"I was 41 years old at the time, now I'm 71. Everything is fine now," he said in September.

"We live in a world where the subject is changing very quickly, and it is a very old subject.There are now many other things that must be scary – and of other people to kill, "he said. added sadly.

Rushdie ceased to use a pseudonym in the month after September 11, 2001, three years after Tehran had declared that the threat against him was "over"

but plainclothes policemen still sat in front of the office door of his French publisher in Paris during an interview with AFP. Several others had taken positions in the courtyard.

Earlier, at a book festival in eastern France, Rushdie badured a skeptical audience that he was leading a "perfectly normal life" in New York, where he had been living for nearly two years. decades.

"I take the subway," he said

"The Satanic Verses" was Rushdie's fifth book, he wrote the 18th today. it is about a man from Mumbai who, like the author, reinvents himself in the Big Apple in order to get rid of his past.

The dark years of riots, bombings and murder of one of the translators of the book, as well as the shot and stabbed shots of two others "feel like a long time ago," he said

"Islam was not a thing. Nobody thought that way, "he explained.

" One of the things that has happened is that Westerners are more informed than before, "he added.

Despite all, the book was greatly enriched. "Misunderstood, he insisted:" Really, it's a novel about South Asian immigrants to London. "

Rushdie's friend, l & # 39; British Pakistani writer Hanif Kureishi, believes that no one would have "today the right to write" The Satanic Verses ". publishes it. "

But even Kureishi, who wrote an acclaimed novel" The Black Album "following the young British Muslim radicalizing themselves, admitted that he had never seen the controversy open when he read a copy of the proof.

He meditated: "I did not notice anything that could awaken the fundamentalists. I saw it as a book about psychosis, about novelty and change. "

Yet, the fury that it engendered marked the advent of political Islam.

Indian author and journalist Salil Tripathi of International PEN, which fights for writers "Human Rights, said that he hoped that the major publishers would remain brave enough to publish" The Satanic Verses ".

"I have not totally lost hope, but the Rushdie affair has undeniably been a mental drag, and a lot of subjects are now considered taboo," he said.

"In India, with Hindu nationalism, people are very reluctant to say things about Hindu gods and goddesses because you do not know what could happen to you."

Today Now, intimidation is exercised by infantrymen instead of being declared by governments, he said, suggesting that all religious clerics must do to awaken the angry mbades, c & # 39; is expressing their aversion to a publication.

He warns: "This is a frightening reality check for writers. There is ongoing competitive intolerance – "If Muslims can ban cartoons in Denmark, why can not we in Pakistan or India forbid this Christian or Hindu writer to say this or that?" 19659002] Sean Gallagher of London-based Index on Censorship said the world had not moved much since the Rushdie affair.

"The problems we are dealing with now are the same.The debate on the blasphemy laws is part of a much needed cyclical conversation.It is important that we continue to be vigilant in regards to freedom of expression and that we have these cultural dialogues, "he explained.

Rushdie himself is also philosophical. Asked that he should have written the book, he replied: "I take the position of Edith Piaf: I do not regret anything," citing the famous hymn of defeated defeat of the French singer.