BERLIN (Reuters) - A German Muslim group said on Friday protests were likely against the first ever staging of a dramatized version of Salman Rushdie's controversial book "The Satanic Verses" in Potsdam near Berlin on Sunday. Rushdie's novel, which was published in the late 1980s, caused outrage among Muslims who deemed it blasphemous.
Nurhan Soykan, spokeswoman for the central council of Muslims in Germany, told Reuters Muslims believed in a free press and freedom of opinion. "But even this has its boundaries," she said. "We're worried that provocations and insults against us have increased recently. I wouldn't want to ban (the play) but you can bet on protests from Muslim people. They can't be expected to put up with everything."
"We regret that the religious sentiments of Muslims are being treated in a provocative manner," the president of the German Islamic Council, Ali Kizilkaya, told AFP after his organization publicly complained about Sunday's scheduled performance.
Iran's late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa -- or religious decree -- in 1989 calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie for perceived insults against Islam in his novel.
Rushdie with his wife.
The play, adapted from Rushdie's 1988 book, was reworked for the stage by the manager of the Hans Otto Theatre in the eastern city of Potsdam, Uwe Eric Laufenberg, and dramatist Marcus Mislin.
Amid heavy media coverage of the upcoming premiere, the general secretary of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, urged followers of Islam to remain calm over the staging of the play and engage in a "critical and constructive dialogue" about the issues it raises.
But he also questioned whether the play might go too far.
"Freedom of expression and of art is important but offences against what is sacred in a religion is not something we value," he told RBB public radio.
A police spokeswoman said authorities planned to step up security around the theatre during the performance
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