Stockholm, Wednesday.
BANGLADESHI feminist author Taslima Nasrin, who faces death threats at
home from extremist Muslims, arrived in Sweden today and went into
hiding, saying she wanted to rest and work.
Nasrin was flown from Asia to Scandinavia under a cloak of secrecy,
with Swedish Government officials refusing to comment until she had been
in the country for several hours.
''I have come to Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Pen Club to
rest and work,'' she said in a statement.
''I would like to thank all those who have supported me at home and
abroad.''
A Swedish official said Nasrin had been granted a tourist visa to
travel to Sweden.
It was not known whether she planned to settle in Sweden or would seek
a visa to move to the United States.
Nasrin has been in hiding since June 4, when the Government ordered
her arrest for insulting religious feelings by telling India's Statesman
newspaper that Islam's holy book, the Koran, should be revised
thoroughly.
Nasrin later said she was misquoted, but the newspaper stood by its
report.
Her comments provoked fury and Islamic militants offered cash rewards
for her death, a reaction like that of Iran's call for British author
Salman Rushdie to be killed for blaspheming Islam in his novel The
Satanic Verses.
Last week police in Bangladesh withdrew an arrest warrant against
Nasrin, after a High Court appearance in which she was granted
bail.--Reuter.
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