Ayatollah Khomeini sentences author Salman Rushdie to death for publishing The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims consider insulting to the Prophet Muhammed. A few weeks later, Iran severs relations with the UK when the latter refuses to denounce Rushdie.
On July 3, 1991, the Italian translator of Salman Rushdie’s book, “The Satanic Verses,” is stabbed and beaten by a man believed to be Iranian in Milan, Italy.