Deseree Stukes ([email protected])
Thu, 15 Oct 1998 09:12:11 -0400
Irish newspaper says Salman Rushdie has been superstar-singer's guest
for years.
Staff Writer Chris Nelson reports:
For five years, writer Salman Rushdie -- in hiding ever since Islamic
fundamentalists put a multimillion-dollar bounty on his head -- has been
a guest at U2 singer Bono's Irish estate, the Sunday Independent
newspaper reported in Ireland.
Longtime human-rights advocate Bono first extended his hospitality to
the British author in 1993, five years after the late Iranian leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa," or religious edict, to
kill Rushdie for alleged blasphemy against Islam in his book "The
Satanic Verses" (1988), noted society-columnist Lorraine Keane wrote in
the latest edition of the newspaper.
"He would fly into one of Dublin's airports, helicopter to Killiney
[and] land on the beach below Bono's garden." -- Lorraine Keane,
columnist for Sunday Independent <<...>>
Rushdie has spent nearly a decade under British police protection.
"He would fly into one of Dublin's airports, helicopter to Killiney [on
the east coast of Ireland and] land on the beach below Bono's garden,"
Keane wrote in Sunday's edition, without offering a source for her
information. Bono reportedly installed closed-circuit television and
other security measures to protect the four-room gazebo where Rushdie
stayed, Keane wrote.
Both Keane and her newspaper are well-regarded in journalistic circles,
Tim Gopsill, editor of the British and Irish National Union of
Journalists' trade publication The Journalist, said. The Sunday
Independent has a circulation of 320,000.
Given the circumstances, those in a position to know are reluctant to
discuss the matter, and as of Wednesday (Oct. 14), the superstar's
publicists could not confirm the story. However, they did note the that
the singer and writer have long held a mutual admiration for each
other's work.
"All that we know is that Bono is a great admirer, all the band are
great admirers, of Salman Rushdie and his work, and Salman did appear on
stage with them at Wembley Stadium in 1993 on the Zoo TV tour," said a
representative (who asked not to be named) of the politically outspoken
singer's RMP publicity firm. "But as for him staying in the house,
management doesn't know about that and we haven't been able to get hold
of Bono to ask him."
But a source close to the band over the last several years said, without
going into detail, "Put it this way, they're friends and Bono has a
palatial estate."
He added that Rushdie "has been to a handful of U2 concerts across the
globe over the past few years. From what I remember, the two of them
even collaborated on a project."
Keane stated that Rushdie's landings on Bono's estate were so frequent
they did not arouse suspicion from neighbors -- one of whom is Rolling
Stones guitarist Ron Wood. She added that Bono's gazebo became Rushdie's
"regular home since 1993." She did not say, however, if the author is
still staying with the rocker.
Keane was unavailable for questions Wednesday (Oct. 14), and her editors
declined to comment on the story.
Bono reportedly built the gazebo in 1992 as a place to write songs and
entertain guests. Rushdie left the dwelling only for midnight and
early-morning walks along the beach, during which times he was
accompanied by bodyguards, according to Keane.
Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North
America, said Tuesday (Oct. 13) that the fatwa has no legal standing
internationally. Although he added that the ISNA has taken no stance on
the fatwa or Bono's alleged hiding of Rushdie, Syeed said those who aid
Rushdie also cause Muslims pain.
"We won't kill them -- someone else may have said that, but we've never
said that -- but we will certainly feel bad about it," he said.
"Muslims all over the world feel bad that Salman Rushdie has scandalized
prophet Mohammed," he said from the society's Plainfield, Ind., offices.
"Whosoever is participating in that, we feel bad about them."
Last month, Iranian president Mohammed Khatemi announced that while his
government has insufficient religious authority to revoke the fatwa, it
does not endorse killing Rushdie. Since then, however, two groups -- an
Iranian student association and the 15 Khordad Foundation -- have
renewed calls for the death sentence to be carried out. The Khordad
Foundation upped its reward for Rushdie's death from $2.5 million to
$2.8 million.
U2 have for years used their worldwide popularity to draw attention to
human-rights abuses. In 1986, they took part in the Conspiracy of Hope
tour to benefit the watchdog-group Amnesty International. They continue,
in liner notes of their albums, to urge fans to support the
organization.
Since the fatwa was issued, several people associated with "The Satanic
Verses" have been injured or killed, according to a 1997 Amnesty
International report. In 1991, a Japanese translator was stabbed to
death. An Italian translator survived a stabbing that same year. In
1993, a Norwegian publisher of the book was shot three times, but
survived.
deseree
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