Rushdie criticizes publisher for pulling novel

Story Highlights
* Salman Rushdie criticizes publisher for pulling novel about Muhammad
* Sherry Jones' novel "The Jewel of Medina" is about Muhammad and his child bride
* Random House Publishing Group said it was warned book may incite violence
* "This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed," Rushie says

NEW YORK (AP) -- Salman Rushdie strongly criticized his publisher for pulling a historical novel about the prophet Muhammad and his child bride over concerns about angering Muslims.

Rushdie, whose "The Satanic Verses" led to a death decree in 1989 from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and forced the author for years to live under police protection, said the Random House Publishing Group had allowed itself to be intimidated.

"I am very disappointed to hear that my publishers, Random House, have canceled another author's novel, apparently because of their concerns about possible Islamic reprisals," Rushdie said Thursday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed."

Random House has acknowledged pulling Sherry Jones' debut novel, "The Jewel of Medina," about Muhammad and his child bride, Aisha.

The publisher, which had planned to release the book this month, said in a recent statement that "credible and unrelated sources" had warned that the book "could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

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