Expressing solidarity with the French satirical magazine whose office was attacked in Paris, controversial India-born author Salman Rushdie today said like all other ideas, religions must be subject to satire.
"I stand with Charlie Hebdo, as we all must, to defend the art of satire, which has always been a force for liberty and against tyranny, dishonesty and stupidity," Rushdie said.
Masked gunmen opened fire with assault rifles in the office of Charlie Hebdo in central Paris, killing 12 people, including four of the magazine's cartoonists and its editor. The unidentified gunmen then fled the scene, exchanging shots with police in the street, killing two officers.
"'Respect for religion' has become a code phrase meaning 'fear of religion'," Rushdie said, adding that religions, "like all other ideas, deserve criticism, satire, and, yes, our fearless disrespect."
Rushdie had spent nearly a decade in hiding after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa against him in 1989 following the publication of his book 'The Satanic Verses', which was considered offensive to Islam.
