MANAMA, Bahrain (UPI): Iran said Saturday that British acknowledgments that Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” is offensive to Moslems represented “a small step” in the right direction but rejected arguments it cannot be banned because of free speech guarantees.

In Derby, England, 125 miles northwest of London, 3,000 Moslems staged a protest that ended with the burning of a copy of “The Satanic Verses” to chants of “Death to Rushdie” and “Rushdie is the devil”.

Rehmat Khan, secretary of the Islamic Affairs Action Committee, said the 10,000 Moslems in Derby supported the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s death warrant against Rushdie for writing the book Khomeini said was blasphemous to Islam.

A leading member of the committee, Talib Shah, said the British Government underestimated the anger of Moslems.

“We have been violated. Wearer … committed to sacrificing our lives if need be.”

If the government does not ban the book and ban it soon, blood will be spilled as we step up our action for more marches and demonstrations. Sooner or later frustration will vent itself into violence.”

On Friday, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher joined Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howein in saying she understood why the novel was offensive to Moslems, but said the Islamic faith is “strong enough” to withstand the controversial book.

State run Tehran Radio said Thatcher’s comments were “a small step” in the right direction, but fell short.

It said Britain was claiming the principle of free speech when it supported the circulation in her power to ban a book she disliked,” Peter Wright’s “Spy catcher’ ’a book on British intelligence.

Iranian Parliament Speaker HoJatoleslam Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the furor over the book will be difficult to heal, calling the matter “a direct confrontation between Western culture and the Islamic Shariat (laws),” according to the official Iranian news agency IRNA.

The dispute over Rushdie’s book and Iran’s reaction halted warming relations between Tehran and London and sparked violent protests in India, Pakistan, Britain, Turkey, the Netherlands and Bangladesh by Moslems offended by the novel’s parody of the life of Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

Iranian President Ali Khamenei said Britain will be forced to apologize for its stand and warned the death threat could be extended to anyone writing a book or making a film insulting Islam.

Apparently unconvinced by Khamenei, the Flag of Freedom an anti-Khomeni group based in Dallas on Saturday it had cut into Tehran Radio broadcasts to air excerpts of “The Satanic Verses.”

Iranian exiles with contacts in Tehran confirmed the report from the opposition saying Tehran Radio programs were interrupted for between 30 minutes and 40 minutes late Friday.

Thatcher Friday joined Howe in saying she too, understood why the novel was offensive to Moslems, but said the Islamic faith is “strong enough” to withstand the controversial book.

I think that these great religions are strong enough and deep enough to withstand these kinds of events,” Thatcher said. “They will endure long after the names of people who have criticized them are forgotten.”

As London and Tehran headed for a break in relations, U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in Calcutta, India, urged Western and Islamic nations to resolve their crisis.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 10, 1989