Rushdie had a fatwa of death against him for writing “The Satanic Verses” about the Koran, because you can get a death sentence for leaving Islam. It’s what they call being an ‘apostate’. The fatwa against Rushdie was issued in February 1989 by Iran’s revolutionary founder and Khamenei’s predecessor, the Ayatollah Khomeini. Although Khomeini is dead now, supposedly that doesn’t make any difference, the fatwa will always remain in effect.

In 2005, the Ayatollah Khamenei (the new guy) said in his message:

“They talk about respect towards all religions, but they support such a mahdour al-damm mortad as Salman Rushdie.” In Sharia, or Islamic law, mortad is a reference to someone who has committed apostasy by leaving Islam while mahdour al-damm is a term applying to someone whose blood may be shed with impunity.

So, the Queen of England knighted Rushdie, which is a little bit odd (for some of the reasons that Ed Brayton cites), but I’ll go with it. What’s particularly pleasing is that the Islamofascist nuts are going wild over it.