Marianne Wiggins natural voice." Wiggins lived in London for 16 years, and for brief periods in Paris, Brussels and Rome. In January 1988, she married the novelist Salman Rushdie in London. On February 14, 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a "Fatwa" ordering Rushdie's assassination for alleged blasphemy in his book, "The Satanic Verses". Although Wiggins had told Rushdie only five days prior that she wished to end their marriage, she nevertheless went into hiding along with him. In 1993, the two divorced. Wiggins currently lives in Los Angeles, California, where she has been in the English department of the University of
Knighthood of Salman Rushdie for a mass demonstration outside Blackburn Town Hall on 21 July 2007. The Muslim Council of Britain released a statement saying they were "disturbed at the deliberate political decision to confer a knighthood to Salman Rushdie...[who] caused deep hurt to Muslims everywhere." They characterised the honour as a "deliberate provocation". They offered suggestions to mosques and Islamic groups in the UK urging their fellow Muslims to "face provocation with dignity and wisdom" when protesting the knighthood and "resist efforts by fringe elements in the community to exploit disappointment felt at the award." They wrote "We should not allow the situation