Adriaan van Dis visited Rushdie in safehouse: ‘I will never forget those men with weapons’ | Writer Salman Rushdie stabbed

In the 1990s, the Rushdie Defense Committee Netherlands fought for the lifting of the fatwa, the death sentence against Rushdie. During that period, negotiations and lobbying took place on every imaginable political level. The committee issued piles of petitions, letters and appeals and started a critical dialogue with Iran. Pressure was also exerted on the Iranian authorities through quiet diplomacy. In order not to disrupt the quiet diplomacy, to avoid escalation, it went Rushdie Defense Committee Netherlands work carefully from the start.

At the time, the committee also tried to ensure that Rushdie could fly freely through Europe again. Airlines did not dare to transport Rushdie for a long time, for fear of escalation and violence. ,,That time we managed to convince KLM to transport Rushdie, to which he was simply entitled,” says Van Dis.

Meanwhile, the committee has been disbanded for many years. Rushdie no longer wanted to be reminded of the fatwa and the many negative experiences. “That is of course understandable,” says Van Dis. “I still look back on a beautiful, valuable period in which we had quite a few intensive debates about free speech. Rushdie has experienced those debates as very positive.” Van Dis and Rushdie are good acquaintances, they have often met and the contact has always remained.

While Rushdie was in hiding, Van Dis and a delegation from the committee visited him at his safehouse in London. “I will never forget that in my life. Those men with heavy guns on the roof, escorting us into the building on walkie-talkies. We were already nervous, you can imagine what this must have been for Rushdie. All those years, without freedom. He has had a very hard time with this.”

Van Dis feared for Rushdie’s life at the time. “Tensions rose enormously during that period. I was worried then. Today, those concerns had been removed, but now it turns out that there was still someone who wanted to catch some money and go to paradise. I really hope Rushdie recovers.”

Van Dis last spoke to Rushdie in person ten years ago, during an event in New York. “Rushdie is an extremely talented writer and a very kind and sympathetic man. His most important work, The Devil’s VersesI can wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. It’s a literary masterpiece, a great game where Rushdie plays with the Quran and with biblical texts. It is often thought that he wanted to insult Islam with this book, but the beauty is that he mocks both sides.”