He was in hiding for 9 years and the bounty on his head continued to be in effect. His memoir Joseph Anton, which describes his years in hiding, was published on September 18th 2012 and the bounty on his head increased from $2.8million to $3.3million.

To jog our memory, Mr. Rushdie’s fourth novel The Satanic Verses
was said to have made blasphemous references to Islam. Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini issued a fatwah on Mr. Rushdie and his publishers calling upon all
Muslims to kill him or have him killed, following the February 1989 riots in
Pakistan where The Satanic Verses were publicly burnt.
Rushdie went into hiding and was offered police protection.
Assassination squads were sent after him. Britain severed ties with Iran for
this preposterous act. 23 years later, came the memoir. India has distanced
herself from Rushdie, shunning him from the Jaipur Literary Festival, but the
memoir has been allowed to circulate within the country.

Right around the time Joseph Anton was scheduled to be published,
an Internet film, said to be demeaning to Islam, went viral causing riots
worldwide. Whether completely unrelated or not, Mr. Rushdie was again held
responsible for the rising tensions against Islam. Mr. Rushdie’s reaction, as
stated to The Guardian was, “The film is clearly a malevolent piece of garbage.
The civilised response would be to say of the director: 'Fuck him. Let's get on
with our day.' What's not civilised is to hold America responsible for
everything that happens in its borders. That's crap. Even if that were true, to
respond with physical attacks and believe it's OK to attack people because
you're upset at this thing, that's an improper reaction. The Muslim world needs
to get out of that mindset.”
Two days before the memoir was released the Associated Press
reported that the bounty on Mr. Rushdie, which was formerly at $2.8 million,
was raided to $3.3 million.
The Associated Press reported that “15 Khordad Foundation,
headed by Ayatollah Hassan Saneii, will pay the higher reward to whoever acts
on the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, issued by Iran's late leader Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini.”
Sanei, in a statement carried by the Iranian Students' News
Agency (ISNA) said, “I am adding another $500,000 to the reward for killing
Salman Rushdie, and anyone who carries out this sentence will receive the whole
amount immediately," reported Reuters adding that in 1998, under reformist
President Mohammad Khatami, Iran's government distanced itself from the Rushdie
fatwa, but hardline groups regularly renew the call for Rushdie's death, saying
Khomeini's decree is irrevocable and eternal.

At a time when Mr. Rushdie ought to be celebrating the
release of his film made by his friend Deepa Mehta, and the launch of his much
celebrated memoir, Joseph Anton, it is grim to see the rising antagonism
against him. However, to Mr. Rushdie, after 23 years in hiding, brushing these “distractions”
away seem to have become second nature.
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