British Labor Calls for Ban on Rushdie Film

Britain’s opposition Labor Party called today for a ban on a Pakistani film which depicts the death of British author Salman Rushdie.

The film “International Guerrillas,” which portrays Rushdie as a decadent pro-Israeli playboy dedicated to the overthrow of Islam, has been playing to packed houses in Pakistan.

The real Rushdie has been in hiding since Iran’s late spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, told Muslims to kill him, charging that his novel “The Satanic Verses” blasphemed Islam.

The conflict over the film erupted as Iran dashed hopes in the West that it might rescind the death sentence. Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Rushdie should be handed over to British Muslims and killed.

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Donald Anderson said the film, in which Rushdie is eventually struck down by bolts of lightning in a tropical island hide-out, could hurt race relations in Britain.

He said that he opposes censorship and that many people would consider the film absurd.

“But since it appears to be taken seriously by all sorts of people elsewhere, I think it could have a damaging effect on race relations and I believe there is a case for banning it in this country,” he said.

Frances D’Souza of the Salman Rushdie Defense Committee said the film should be banned only if it broke the law.

“This film is bloodthirsty. It is not beneficial to the safety of Mr. Rushdie,” she told British Broadcasting Corp. television. “But the question is, Should it be banned? Only if it infringes British law.”