Rushdie: Veils 'suck'

2006-10-10 21:57

London - British author Salman Rushdie on Tuesday joined the delicate debate about face veils for Muslim women, saying they "suck" and weakened a woman's position.

The writer, who was the subject of a fatwa by Ayatollah Khomeni of Iran in the late 1980s because of his novel, The Satanic Verses, said he regarded the veil as a way of taking power away from women.

Speaking in a BBC interview, Rushdie supported the position of Jack Straw, the former British foreign secreatry, who last week sparked controversy with his comment that the veil was a "visible statement of difference and separation".

"He (Straw) was expressing an important opinion which is that veils suck - which they do," said the Indian-born author.

On Straw's side

"Speaking as somebody with three sisters and a very largely female Muslim family, there is not a single woman I know in my family or in their friends' who would have accepted the wearing of a veil," said Rushdie.

"The battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women so, in that sense, I am completely on his side.

"I think the veil is a way of taking power away from women," said Rushdie. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA