Rushdie optimistic about 'fatwa'

(First Edition)

London (Reuter) - Salman Rushdie says he has visited eight countries in an attempt to drum up international opposition to the order, issued by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, that he be killed for blaspheming Islam.

The author said his visits to the United States, Denmark, Spain, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Canada and Ireland over the past year had encouraged him in his quest to bring international pressure to bear on Iran and have the fatwa against him withdrawn.