HC Deb 12 February 1993 vol 218 cc837-8W
Mr. Winnick

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent meeting between the Minister of State, the right hon. Member for Grantham, and Mr. Salman Rushdie.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

My meeting on 4 February was a significant step in raising the profile of Mr. Rushdie's continuing plight. It is almost four years since Ayatollah Khomeini issued his death threat against him. In the face of the continued threat to Mr. Rushdie and recent statements by senior figures in Iran, it was right to demonstrate our support by holding the meeting.

I brought Mr. Rushdie up to date on our continuing efforts to resolve the problem of the fatwa and our decision to raise our profile and encourage international leaders and organisations to rally behind his cause. I reassured Mr. Rushdie that we remained greatly concerned by the continuing failure of the Iranian authorities to repudiate the incitement to murder and the bounty offered in that respect by an Iranian organisation. This failure inevitably prevents the establishment of full and friendly relations with Iran.