Salman Rushdie

For the past 23 years, there has been a fatwā (Islamic death sentence) hanging over Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses.

Many Muslims accused Rushdie of blasphemy or unbelief and in 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwā ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. Numerous killings, attempted killings, and bombings resulted from Muslim anger over the novel. You can read all about it here.

Rushdie is now also the subject of a new computer game aimed at teaching kids about his “sin”. It is called The Stressful Life of Salman Rushdie and Implementation of his Verdict. It is being developed by the Islamic Association of Students, a Tehranian, government-sponsored organisation. Three years ago, the student association and Iran’s national foundation of computer games asked students across the country to submit scripts for the game and the top three were handed over to video developers.

Little has been revealed about the game but its title suggests players will be asked to “implement the Iranian government’s call for the killing of Rushdie.”

[Source: Guardian]