Author Salman Rushdie, under a death threat for years...

Author Salman Rushdie, under a death threat for years for allegedly blaspheming Islam in a novel, has not been allowed to fly on Air Canada since September 2001 and an airline spokeswoman said she could not say when the ban would be lifted.
Canada's largest airline barred Rushdie last year because it believed other passengers would be greatly inconvenienced by security measures, largely demanded by the United States, that were needed to protect the British author, spokeswoman Laura Cook said.
The country's dominant carrier has a standing order in its reservations system not to allow Rushdie on any of its planes, anywhere in the world. The company informed the novelist of its decision in a letter to his editors.
Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a religious edict or "fatwa" in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death following the release of "The Satanic Verses."
Cook said the ban was in response to a directive from the US Federal Aviation Administration, issued on September 6, which required all airlines flying to the United States to adopt "specific security enhancements" when Rushdie was on board.
In 1998, the government of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the death order, resolving a row between Britain and Iran and allowing Rushdie to appear more frequently in public.
In February, Iran's Islamic Revolution Martyr Foundation told an Iranian newspaper that the death sentence was irrevocable.