Iran-UK relations benighted, again
By Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN - Tensions are rising between Britain and Iran over the knighthood
awarded to British-Indian novelist Salman Rushie, the intimidation of guests
invited to the birthday celebration of Queen Elizabeth II by the British
Embassy, and the row over the ownership of a British Embassy-owned compound in
the Iranian capital.
Britain, the closest ally of US President George W Bush against Iran, accuses
Tehran of helping and arming terrorists in Iraq and
Afghanistan. For its part, Iran charges that Britain interferes in its internal
affairs and is the mastermind behind Arab separatism in its southwestern
province of Khuzestan.
The news about Rushdie's knighthood, given on June 16 in recognition of his
literary work, has drawn negative reactions from conservatives in Iran, just as
it has triggered anger among groups in Pakistan and Malaysia.
Pakistan's Parliament condemned the knighthood on June 18. On Wednesday, 201
Iranian lawmakers did the same, said that Britain showed its "historic
animosity with Islam and Muslims", and asked Islamic governments to downgrade
ties with London.
The state Islamic Republic News Agency, reporting on the protest lodged by the
Iranian ambassador to Britain, described the knighthood as one given to the
"apostate and forgotten author". "This will intensify the clash of cultures and
civilizations," warned Iranian envoy Rasoul Movahedian.
British Ambassador to Iran Geoffrey Adams was summoned to the Iranian Foreign
Ministry last Tuesday to receive an official protest over what a ministry
official termed "an insulting, suspicious and unmeasured move of the British
government", Mehr news agency reported.
Responding to protests, British High Commissioner in Pakistan Robert Brinkley
said: "It is simply untrue that this knighthood is intended as an insult to
Islam or the Prophet Mohammed." He added that the queen had also honored two
other Muslims.
In 1989, Iran's leader, ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a death-warrant fatwa
against Rushdie and his publishers for his book The Satanic Verses,
which he said had insulted Islam. The fatwa obliged any Muslim who found
them to execute the "blasphemers", and forced Rushdie to go into hiding for
nearly a decade.
In 1998, the Iranian government, maintaining that this was a religious matter
and not a government issue, dissociated itself from the fatwa. But
conservatives still consider it to be in place. One hardline Iranian group said
it had increased the award for Rushdie's head from US$100,000 to $150,000, the
Aftab news agency reported.
"Awarding Rushdie [a knighthood] was indeed an unmeasured act on the side of
the British. It has angered Muslims all over the world but, even more
significantly for us, it has caused further deterioration in the already
not-so-friendly relations between Iran and the UK," said an analyst in Tehran,
requesting anonymity.
"The British have a bad historical record here, and there is so much contempt
against them for their role in supporting dictatorships in this country in the
past. They are still blamed very strongly by many people for every vice, even
for allegedly bringing the clerics to power in Iran," he said.
The June 14 birthday celebrations for Queen Elizabeth by the British Embassy
drew protests from angry students. Some 50 students demanded that the
ambassador be expelled and the embassy be closed. They made it clear they were
only awaiting a signal from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to take over
the "den of the old fox", as the British Embassy is often called by
anti-British Iranians.
Throwing stones, eggs, water bottles and paint-filled balloons at the embassy,
the students filmed and photographed Iranian guests who had dared "partake of
the British queen's birthday food" and attacked the cars of guests, including
those of diplomats.
Earlier, these students had warned the hundreds of Iranian officials and
politicians, artists, journalists and business people invited to the annual
birthday celebration to stay away from the British Embassy. Those who did turn
up were intimidated by the protesters, who called them traitors.
The students clashed with the riot police, and several were reportedly
arrested.
An observer in Tehran, asking not to be named, said: "The very small protesting
group of students is known to be a puppet group used by ruling hardliners as a
pressure group."
Meanwhile, hardline Iranian groups and individuals stepped up demands to take
back a British Embassy-owned compound in northern Tehran. The ownership of the
park, granted to the British in the 19th century by Iran's king, has long been
disputed by conservatives. After taking office, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad
ordered a committee to be formed to investigate ways of returning ownership to
Iran.
The remains of a number of British soldiers killed in World Wars I and II lie
in the park, which also houses the residences of some British diplomats as well
as the British Council and the German and French schools.
"There are just too many sore spots in our relations with the United Kingdom,"
remarked the Tehran-based analyst. "British officials' sometimes
too-insensitive remarks, their limitation of trade with Iran, their alliance
with the United States in its war against Iran, and now awarding knighthood to
Rushdie only help give better justification to hardliners' extremism in Iran's
foreign policy."
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