Nearly 10 years after he was driven underground, Salman Rushdie believed he was free. The author had been living under heavy security and highest secrecy in London. But in 1998, the Iranian government of President Mohammad Khatami publicly distanced itself from the religious fatwa calling for his murder.
source https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/15/middleeast/salman-rushdie-iran-mime-intl/index.html
