Excerpt:
When Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini announced on Valentine's Day 1989 the death sentence on Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses, and others associated with its publication and translation, it was his last major pronouncement as the radical religious leader and founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Khomeini died in June 1989. His notorious edict as the opening salvo of the Islamist war against the West, however, still remains lethal in censoring free speech and driving fear into the hearts of anyone daring to submit Islam and Muslim history to critical scrutiny.
It would be fair to say the West did not know what to make of Khomeini's incitement to murder 20 years ago. Or of Rushdie who was forced to hide under British protection from those who might kill him for the $5.2-million bounty on offer.
The edict against Rushdie was lifted officially by Khomeini's successors in 1998. But to the ever-lasting shame of many around the world, the edict sparked a debate over the propriety of any expression, such as Rushdie's book, that could be viewed as insulting Islam.