About a year after it was first announced —and caused ripples of protest across the Muslim world — the Queen knighted author Salman Rushdie in London on Wednesday.
The 61-year-old, Booker Prize-winning novelist wanted to keep the focus on the prestigious honour rather than the controversy that continues to follow him, when speaking to reporters after the ceremony.
"This is, as I say, an honour not for any specific book but for a very long career in writing, and I'm happy to see that recognized," he said.
"At this stage, you know, it's certainly not a day to talk about controversy. It's a day for myself and my family to celebrate this."
Rushdie was sent into hiding for more than a decade after Iran's then leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued in 1989 a religious edict ordering Muslims to kill the Indian-born, British author for allegedly insulting Islam with his novel The Satanic Verses.
In 1998, the Iranian governement declared that it would no longer support or encourage Khomeini's fatwa, and Rushdie gradually returned to public appearances.
However, he revealed in February 2007 that individuals still send him a "sort of Valentine's card" each year reminding him of the edict.
Promoted novel in Canada
The author was once again the subject of new protests from the Muslim world last June when the British monarch announced her list of birthday honours, which includes subjects to be granted knighthoods.
Rallies in Pakistan called for a British trade boycott, while in Iran, clerics and government officials condemned the decision.
"Giving a medal to someone who is among the most detested figures in the Islamic community is … a blatant example of the anti-Islamism of senior British officials," charged Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Hosseini.
Rushdie recently was in Canada promoting his latest novel, The Enchantress of Florence.
With files from the Associated Press
