‘Rushdie’ author forced into mental home

AUTHOR Zainub Priya Dala has been sent to a mental institution in Durban after praising controversial author Salman Rushdie’s writing style at a literary festival last month.

According to PEN, an international writers’ organisation that supports free speech, Dala was harassed by religious leaders to renounce her statement about Rushdie’s work, to “repent her sins and make a public vow of religious loyalty to Islam”.

Rushdie offended many Muslims with his irreverent descriptions of the prophet Mohammed in his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses .

It appears Dala was admitted after she refused to take back her statement about Rushdie.

Last night, she told the Sunday Times that she had been “told” to admit herself.

“I am admitted at St Joseph’s Psych Wing. The doctor says I have post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety,” she said.

Dala said that she was “not forced in kicking and screaming”, but said “I was told that this is what I must do”.

“On paper I signed that I came in voluntarily, but the reality is, I was told to come,” she said via a text message.

An earlier statement by PEN’s local chapter said Dala was so heavily drugged that she could barely walk.

“A psychologist by profession, Dala is a mother of a young child and ultimately consented to go to the hospital to avoid intense and intrusive harassment at her home,” the statement said.

Dala was hit with a brick and called “Rushdie’s bitch” on March 18 in Overport, Durban. The day before, at a school event in Chatsworth as part of the annual Time of the Writer literary festival, she had been asked which writers she admired.

Among other authors, she mentioned Rushdie. The attack left her with a fractured cheek bone and severe bruising on the left side of her face.

In the PEN statement, Dala said she had been harassed by hospital staff.

“Staff were alerted, upon my ad- mission, that no news of my admission or diagnosis be given to anyone at all. An occupational therapist barged into my cubicle while I was fast asleep and made a spectacle of me, relentlessly asking me questions about the assault and loudly laughing off my requests to leave me alone,” she told PEN.

According to the statement, Dala had continued to receive threatening phone calls — some late at night — and religious leaders had demanded that she renounce her statement.

“I have been harangued to withdraw, dissect, explain and renounce my admiration of [Rushdie’s] works. I can’t turn back now and pretend I never admired his writing. I would look like a fool,” she said .

Rushdie took to Twitter last night in support of Dala: “This is disgusting. She must be released immediately.”

British author Neil Gaiman also tweeted his support, describing the treatment of her as “monstrous”.