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JK Rowling Calls Out Twitter for Threats Over Rushdie Support

American author JK Rowling has called out Twitter after receiving death threats over her support for Salman Rushdie. The Indian-British-American writer was stabbed 10 times before speaking at Chautauqua Institution in New York on August 12. The 24-year-old suspect, Hadi Matar, has been held without bail on attempted murder and assault charges. Several world leaders and other writers condemned the stabbing on Twitter as an attack on freedom of speech.

Rushdie remained on life support after the attack due to serious injuries. However, he is now off the ventilator and is able to speak. His agent confirmed that he was on the road to recovery.

JK Rowling Reports the Threat to Twitter Support

JK Rowling condemned the attack by saying she was “very sick” and wished for Rushdie to be ok. In response, a Twitter user wrote, “don’t worry, you are next’. The author reported the account, and soon after, the platform suspended it.

The handle had mentioned Karachi, Pakistan, in his bio. He was very vocal about his hate for Rushdie and support for the guy who stabbed him. He called the suspect a “revolutionary Shia fighter” following the fatwa of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Scotland Police is also involved and investigating the matter.

Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie

It might be new for JK Rowling, but Rushdie has been facing death threats ever since publishing his fourth book, The Satanic Verses, in 1988. The satirical novel inspired by the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) received immense praise in the Western World but violent criticism in the Muslim one. It won the 1988 Whitebread Award for the best novel of the year but also invited the wrath of extremists. The perceived blasphemy in that book became the motive for many bombings, killings, and riots across the world.

Pakistan banned the book after thousands of protestors gathered against Rushdie and burned his book. India banned the import of the book due to fears of religious unrest. However, Iran took it up a notch and issued a fatwa (legal ruling by an Islamically qualified jurist) in 1989, calling for the author’s death. Since then, there have been several attempts on his life and his associates. In 1989, someone tried to kill him in Paddington Hotel with a book bomb, but it prematurely exploded, destroying 2 floors of the hotel. In 1991, the Italian translator of The Satanic Verses, Ettore Capriolo, was stabbed and left injured at his home in Milan. In the same year, his Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi was found dead on the college campus where he thought. In 1993, the Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot 3 times but survived the attack. The same year saw a horrific assassination attempt on Turkish translator Aziz Nesin. He was in the Madimak hotel when a mob of arsonists burned the building killing 37 people. Nesin escaped because the mob did not recognize him.

The fatwa on Rushdie is still valid as Ayatollah died soon after issuing it, and only the issuer could take back the decree. The reward for Rushdie’s head stands at 3.3 million USD.

Rowling in Controversies

The beloved writer, JK Rowling, has recently lost the support of several social media users and activists for her remarks about transgender people. It started when she called out an opinionated piece that chose to write “people who menstruate” instead of women. It started a debate on social media that led the author to post a series of tweets explaining that sex was real and removing the concept of sex also removed the ability of many people to discuss their lives meaningfully. She also mentioned 5 reasons for being worried about modern trans activism. Transgender people took offence to Rowling’s views, and many trans activists responded with death threats to the author.

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