The Satanic Verses controversy fact that the sentence was not passed by an Islamic court, or that it did not limit its "jurisdiction only [to] countries under Islamic law". Muhammad Hussan ad-Din, a theologian at Al-Azhar University, argued "Blood must not be shed except after a trial [when the accused has been] given a chance to defend himself and repent". Abdallah al-Mushidd, head of Azhar's Fatwā Council stated "We must try the author in a legal fashion as Islam does not accept killing as a legal instrument". The Islamic Jurisprudence Academy in Mecca urged that Rushdie be tried and, if found guilty, be given
Mahshid Amirshahi Harvard University, and has written dozens of articles mostly in Persian with occasional contributions to publications such as "Newsday" (USA) and "Les Temps Modernes" (France) in English and French. One of her notable political stands while in exile has been her instigation of the declaration of the Iranian intellectuals and artists in defence of the British author Salman Rushdie, who had become the object of a notorious manhunt owing to the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against him and his book "The Satanic Verses". Mahshid Amirshahi was one of the founders of the "Comité de défense de Salman Rushdie en