Naguib Mahfouz Prize. Like many Egyptian writers and intellectuals, Mahfouz was on an Islamic fundamentalist "death list". He defended Salman Rushdie after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned Rushdie to death in 1989, but also criticized his "The Satanic Verses" as "insulting" to Islam. Mahfouz believed in freedom of expression, and, although he did not personally agree with Rushdie's work, he did not believe that there should be a "fatwa" condemning him to death for it. In 1989, after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's "fatwa" calling for Salman Rushdie and his publishers to be killed, Mahfouz called Khomeini a terrorist. Shortly after Mahfouz joined 80 other
Knighthood of Salman Rushdie to reduce (tension) and not to complicate the matter. If Indonesia also gets angry it will contribute nothing." There were protests in different parts of India over the knighthood, including one in Kanpur led by the AJ Fareedi Association denouncing Britain and chanting slogans against Rushdie. The Islamic Centre of India began a petition campaign with the end result to be handing over a banner to the British High Commissioner in New Delhi covered with thousands of signatures. The centre's general secretary, Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli, announced in his Friday sermon that by honouring Rushdie the UK "has acted against