The World - News from Sept. 5, 1989

Iran boycotted a 108-nation conference of lawmakers in London to protest British author Salman Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses.” A spokesman for the Inter-Parliamentary Union said Iran sent a message last week saying its delegation would stay away and charging that the “British government under the pretext of freedom of speech” had supported Rushdie and encouraged publication of his book. The conference prides itself on providing a forum for contacts between lawmakers, often from hostile countries. Rushdie, an Indian-born Muslim, remains in hiding under British police guard because of a standing order by Iran that he be killed.