Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses has long been available in a Czech translation, but they've now published a new translation -- and the Saudis, trying to shift attention from all the messes they currently have on their own plate, decided to take umbrage (because, apparently, Rushdie's book -- which it would appear they have not read -- is the only one that's offensive to Muslims ... (in fact, of course, it's the only one whose title is widely recognized in the circles they're addressing as ostensibly offensive to Muslims, and so it will do as (apparently eternal) stand-in)).
As Reuters reported Saudi Arabia protests over Czech 'Satanic Verses' 27 years after uproar, summoning the Czech ambassador and asking him to: "try and halt its publication".
(As it turns out, they lodged their complaint rather late in the day: "Prague-based literary publisher Paseka told Reuters it had not heard of any complaint, and its 5,000-strong print run of the book, released in April, had already almost sold out" -- but, desperate for distractions, the Saudis (in)conveniently only seem to have become aware of this potential-source-of-outrage now.)
After what I imagine was lots of laughter at the absurdity of the request/demand, the Czech government has made clear, as The Prague Post reports, that Prague won't block 'Satanic Verses' translation.
After what I imagine was lots of laughter at the absurdity of the request/demand, the Czech government has made clear, as The Prague Post reports, that Prague won't block 'Satanic Verses' translation.