Salman Rushdie

1 portrait

© The Douglas Brothers

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Salman Rushdie

by The Douglas Brothers
platinum print, December 1988
15 1/2 in. x 12 1/4 in. (395 mm x 310 mm) image size
Given by The Douglas Brothers, 2015
Primary Collection
NPG P2008

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Rushdie published The Satanic Verses in 1988, leading to accusations of blasphemy against Islam. This culminated in Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issuing a fatwa, effectively a death sentence, against him on 14 Feburary 1989. This closely cropped portrait was taken on the occasion of Rushdie’s last interview before he was forced into hiding under police protection.

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Current affairs

A Pan Am jumbo jet is brought down by a bomb over Lockerbie in Scotland, killing 259 passengers and 11 people on the ground. The Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary launched Britain's largest criminal investigation before convicting a Libyan intelligence officer of planting the bomb.

Art and science

Professor Stephen Hawking publishes his popular book on cosmology, A Brief History Of Time.
Damien Hirst and his fellow Goldsmiths students organise the exhibition Freeze in a disused block in the Docklands. The exhibition launched the careers of many of the young British artists (YBAs) associated with Brit Art including Gary Hume, Michael Landy, Sarah Lucas, Angus Fairhurst, and Anya Gallaccio.

International

Iraq drops poison gas on the Iraqi Kurdish city of Halabja, killing thousands of civilians. The city was held at the time by Iranian forces and Iraqi Kurdish rebels, although there was initially some debate over which side was responsible for the atrocity. It was the largest-scale chemical attack on civilians in modern times.

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