Ahmed Deedat convert to Christianity. Hindus and Christians had respected his oratory skills and arguments until then. But now, they rejected Deedat and united with other South African Muslim organisations in denouncing his attacks on other religions. Two years later, Jews joined the criticism after Deedat published "Arab and Israel – Conflict or Conciliation?" In 1988, following the publication of Salman Rushdie’s fictional work "The Satanic Verses", Deedat supported the fatwā of the Ayatollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death. He said that Rushdie "is a hypocrite and has blasphemed holy personalities. He should not be pardoned." In his last tour to Australia,
Embassy of the United Kingdom, Tehran 1988, the UK's Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe agreed with Iranian Foreign Minister Velayati to resume diplomatic contact. Staff returned in January 1989. On 14 February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie and his publishers. European Community Foreign Ministers agreed to withdraw their heads of mission from Tehran in response. The British Government withdrew all UK-based staff. Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait made it desirable to re-establish relations once more, in September 1990. The UK and all other EU countries withdrew their heads of mission in April 1997 when a German court issued a verdict that members of the