To editorialize: whatever I make think of knighthoods, the death sentence against Rushdie seems a great deal more provocative. In the BBC:
Iran has stepped up its protest over the knighthood awarded by Britain to Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses outraged many Muslims.
Iran’s foreign ministry summoned the UK ambassador in Tehran and said the knighthood was a “provocative act”.
Pakistan voiced similar protests, telling the UK envoy in Islamabad the honour showed the British government’s “utter lack of sensitivity”.
Britain denied that the award was intended to insult Islam.