An academic who described a novel about the Prophet Mohammed as “softcore pornography” has faced calls to apologise after the home of the publisher was targeted in a suspected petrol bomb attack.
Martin Rynja, whose Gibson Square publishing house will release The Jewel of Medina by American author Sherry Jones next month, is under police protection following the incident in Islington, north London, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Mr Rynja, 44, was not hurt in the incident.
Denise Spellberg, an associate professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas, was quoted in the US media as saying the book turned “sacred history” into “softcore pornography”.
