Rushdie checks out of hotel after protest

Rushdie checks out of hotel after protest

Agence France-Presse, Mumbai, India

Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie, holidaying in India, has checked out of his Bombay (also Mumbai) hotel room, a hotel official said on Tuesday after hardline Muslims threatened to "blacken" the author's face.

The Booker-Prize winning writer, along with his model-actress girlfriend Padma Lakshmi, left Bombay's posh Taj Mahal hotel late on Monday, the hotel official said. It was not immediately known where they were headed.

His departure came after a local Muslim group offered a 100,000-rupee (US$2,100) award to anyone who would "blacken his face". Blackening a person's face with shoe polish or soot is considered a grave insult in India.

"He left late last night (Monday)," the official told AFP, asking to remain unnamed.

Media reports had quoted Rushdie.

"We definitely wanted to blacken his face and hence announced an award for anyone who would do the daring act," said Suhail Rokadia, general secretary of the Raza Academy, the organization which spearheaded the anti-Rushdie campaign.

On Monday, more than 100 Indian Muslims protested in Bombay against the writer's visit, carrying banners saying "Kill Salman Rushdie" and "Kill Rushdie, the White Collar Terrorist".

However, in an interview with India's NDTV 24x7 television channel on Monday, the author appeared relaxed over the controversy aroused by his visit.

"I am used to such protests," Rushdie, who came to India on holiday, said.

Rushdie was forced into hiding in Britain in 1989 after the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death edict, or fatwa, against him, accusing him of blasphemy against Islam in his novel "The Satanic Verses".

Rushdie and his girlfriend had earlier visited New Delhi, Rajasthan and Madras before traveling to Bombay.