Is Julian Assange Related in Any Way to Salman Rushdie??

There's something strange going on in the world of free speech. Like, for example, there's a lot of places in the world where free speech is not appreciated.

Have you ever seen Salman Rushdie and Julian Assange in the same room together?


Is Julian Assange the new Salman Rushdie? Assange so wanted his 15 minutes of fame but at what cost? It appears he has disappeared, will the next time we see him be in photos of his corpse making their way around the internet?
www.arguewitheveryone.com...


Following Ayatollah Khomeini's February 14, 1989 death threat fatwa against author Salman Rushdie, convert to Islam and recording artist Yusuf Islam, previously known as Cat Stevens, made statements that were interpreted as endorsing the killing of Rushdie.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

On February 21, 1989, Yusuf Islam addressed students at Kingston University in London about his conversion to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution. He replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear - if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."
www.nationalreview.com...

Here's what Wikipedia has to say.

Salman Rushdie controversy
Main article: Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie
The singer attracted controversy in 1989, during an address to students at London's Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the death of author Salman Rushdie. The media interpreted his response as support for the fatwa. Yusuf released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism, and claiming that he had merely recounted the legal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a BBC interview, he displayed a newspaper clipping from that time period, which quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 on a British television programme were also seen as being in support of the fatwa. In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his web sites, Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.[56] In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.[5][49]

Originally posted by Thoriumisbest

Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking .[5][49]

And so close to the anniversary of the assassination of John Lennon.